Opening Bell:
Gift Nifty is up by 21.5 points in the early morning trade, indicating a positive opening for Indian stock market.
Asia-Pacific markets largely fell ahead of the Bank of Japan’s rate decision on Friday. Japan’s central bank is expected to keep its benchmark policy rate unchanged at -0.1%, but investors will be keenly watching for any signs of a shift in stance towards its yield curve control policy. The Nikkei 225 tumbled 1.35% in early trade, while the Topix saw a smaller loss of 1%. In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.76% ahead of its producer price index figures for the second quarter. South Korea’s markets were more mixed, with the Kospi down 0.25% and the Kosdaq up 0.51%. Futures for Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index also point to a lower open for the index, standing at 19,347 compared to the HSI’s last close of 19,639.11.
Stock futures were near flat on Thursday night as Wall Street awaited new inflation data due Friday morning. Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average were little changed. S&P 500 futures ticked higher by 0.03%, while Nasdaq 100 futures advanced 0.07%. A mixed batch of earnings reports sent stocks in diverging directions after hours. Intel jumped more than 7% as investors applauded a return to profitability, while Roku climbed 8% after beating Wall Street expectations on both the top and bottom lines.
Stocks News:
👉Shriram Finance on July 27 reported a 25.13% rise in its April-June quarter net profit to Rs 1,675.44 crore, as against Rs 1,338.95 crore recorded in the year-ago period. Net Interest Income (NII) for the first quarter ended June 30 increased by 11.31% and stood at Rs 4,435.27 crore as against Rs 3,984.44 crore in the same period of the previous year.
The National Stock Exchange (NSE) on July 27 reported a net profit of Rs 1,844 crore on a consolidated basis for Q1 FY24, up by 9% on a year-on-year (YoY) basis. The exchange’s consolidated income from operations came in at Rs 2,987 crore for Q1 FY 24, up by 13% YoY.
👉Indus Towers: The telecom infrastructure provider has recorded a massive a 182% year-on-year growth in profit at Rs 1,348 crore for quarter ended June FY24, driven by healthy operating performance. Revenue from operations for the quarter grew by 3% to Rs 7,076 crore compared to the year-ago period. On the operating front, EBITDA jumped 51% on-year to Rs 3,514 crore during the quarter, with the highest quarterly tower additions in company’s history. The steady collections have aided its financial performance. Total tower base stood at 1,98,284 numbers, rising by 11,810 on-year and 5,410 quarter-on-quarter, while sharing revenue per tower per month dropped by 3.2% YoY to Rs 73,286.
👉Ajanta Pharma: The specialty pharmaceutical formulation company has registered a 19% year-on-year growth in profit at Rs 208 crore for the quarter ended June FY23, driven by healthy operating performance. Revenue from operations for the quarter increased by 7% on-year to Rs 1,021 crore, with US sales increasing by 19%, India sales growing 14% and Asia reporting 6% sales growth, but Africa sales fell 5% YoY. On the operating front, EBITDA increased by 22% YoY to Rs 271 crore. The company announced total dividend of Rs 25 per share, comprising special dividend of Rs 15 per share and regular dividend of Rs 10 per share.
👉Foreign institutional investors (FII) sold shares worth Rs 3,979.44 crore, whereas domestic institutional investors (DII) purchased shares worth Rs 2,528.15 crore on July 27, provisional data from the National Stock Exchange (NSE) shows.
Domestic and International Events
- India had set a target of 100GW of solar energy capacity by year 2022 and achieved 70.10 GW by June 2023 while another 55.60 GW is under construction, Parliament was informed on Thursday. “The government had set a target of achieving 100 GW of solar power installed capacity in the country by the year 2022,” Union Minister of Power and New & Renewable Energy R K Singh said in a written reply to Lok Sabha on Thursday.
- The U.S. economy grew faster than expected in the second quarter as labour market resilience underpinned consumer spending, while businesses boosted investment in equipment, potentially keeping a much-feared recession at bay. Gross domestic product increased at a 2.4% annualized rate last quarter, the Commerce Department in its advance estimate of second-quarter GDP on Thursday. The economy grew at a 2.0% pace in the January-March quarter. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast GDP rising at a 1.8% rate.
- Oil climbed on Thursday, with Brent crude topping $84 a barrel for the first time since April, supported by supply tightness following OPEC+ production cuts and renewed bullishness on the outlook for Chinese demand and global growth. Crude has posted four consecutive weekly gains on an expected tightening of supply because of output cuts by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and its allies, known collectively as OPEC+, as well as some involuntary outages.
- Gold prices slipped more than 1% to a two-week low on Thursday, weighed down by a stronger dollar and an uptick in bond yields after better-than-expected U.S. economic data. Spot gold dropped 1.2% to $1,948.69 per ounce by 01:53 p.m. EDT (1753 GMT), its lowest since July 12. U.S. gold futures settled 1.2% lower to $1,945.70.
Key Equity Indices
| EMERGING | LATEST | % 1D |
| Hang Seng | 19,639 | 1.4 % |
| Shanghai Composite | 3,217 | (0.2) % |
| DEVELOPED | LATEST | % 1D |
| Dow Jones | 35,283 | (0.7) % |
| DAX | 16,406 | 1.7 % |
| FTSE 100 | 7,693 | 0.2 % |
| Nikkei | 32,891 | 0.7 % |
| Straits Times | 3,337 | 1.0 % |
