Opening Bell:
Gift Nifty is down by 23.0 points in the early morning trade, indicating a negative opening for Indian stock market.
Asia-Pacific markets fell Wednesday, Japan’s Nikkei 225 led losses in the region and slid 1.48%, while the Topix is also down 1.11%. South Korea’s Kospi slid 0.45% in early trade and the Kosdaq also dipped marginally. The country saw its inflation rate for July come in at 2.3% its lowest level in 25 months. Meanwhile, Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 dropped 0.8%, a day after the Reserve Bank of Australia held its benchmark interest rate at 4.1%. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index futures stood at 19,892, pointing to a weaker open compared to the HSI’s close of 20,011.12.
US stock futures fell Tuesday night after Fitch downgraded the United States’ long-term rating and traders continued to assess the latest batch of second-quarter earnings results. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures slid by 75 points, or 0.2%. S&P 500 and Nasdaq-100 futures dipped 0.3% and 0.4%, respectively. Fitch Ratings lowered the United States’ long-term foreign currency issuer default rating to AA+ from AAA Tuesday night, citing “expected fiscal deterioration over the next three years.”
Stocks News:
👉TVS Motor Company: The two-and-three-wheeler company has recorded sales volume at 3.26 lakh units for July 2023, which came in slightly above analysts’ estimates, increasing by 4% compared to the year-ago month. Two-wheeler sales volume rose 4% YoY to 3.12 lakh units, while electric vehicle sales doubled to 13,306 units against 6,304 units during the same period. Domestic two-wheeler sales grew by 17% YoY to 2.35 lakh units, but total exports dropped 20.4% to 89,213 units during the same period.
👉Multiplex chain PVR Inox on August 1 reported a net loss of Rs 44.1 crore in the first quarter of fiscal 2024 against a net profit of Rs 68.3 crore in the year-ago period, hit by a below-average performance of Hindi films, a slow recovery in footfalls and cinema advertising revenue. Revenue, too, was better than expected, up 31.7% YoY at Rs 1,266.6 crore. Sequentially, revenue was up 14.6% from Rs 1,104.5 crore in the March quarter. Analysts had pegged a 13% QoQ increase in revenue.
👉Adani Total Gas: Adani Total Gas announced its April-June quarter results for fiscal 2023-24 (Q1FY24) on August 1, reporting a rise of 9% in consolidated net profit at Rs 150 crore, compared to Rs 138 crore in the corresponding period last year. The gas distributer’s revenue from operations in the first quarter of current fiscal stood at Rs 1,056.1 crore, registering a marginal rise of 1.3%, compared to Rs 1,042.3 crore in the year-ago period.
👉Maruti Suzuki India: The country’s largest car maker has announced production of more than 1.86 lakh vehicles in the month of July 2023, up nearly 1 percent over production of 1.85 lakh vehicles in same period last year. This data included production by Suzuki Motor Gujarat. Maruti is going to acquire a 100% stake in Suzuki Motor Gujarat from Suzuki Motor Corporation.
👉Foreign institutional investors (FII) sold shares worth Rs 92.85 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DII) bought Rs 1,035.69 crore worth of stocks on August 1, provisional data from the National Stock Exchange (NSE) shows.
Domestic and International Events
- The number of income tax returns (ITRs) filed in assessment year 2023-24 is 16.1 percent higher as compared to the preceding year, the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) said on August 1, adding that the cumulative number of filings peaked to a record high of “over 6.77 crore” as of July 31. In comparison, a total of 5.83 crore ITRs were filed as of July 31, 2022. The filing of ITRs peaked on the last day, with “over 64.33 lakh ITRs being filed” as the deadline neared.
- India’s manufacturing sector activity continued to expand in July compared to June, although the S&P Global Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) edged down marginally to 57.7, data released on August 1 showed. The manufacturing PMI stood at 57.8 in June. The gauge of manufacturing sector activity in July is above the key level of 50 – which separates expansion in activity from contraction – for the 25th month in a row. “The Indian manufacturing sector showed little sign of losing growth momentum in July as production lines continued to motor on the back of strong new order growth,” said Andrew Harker, Economics Director at S&P Global Market Intelligence. The July PMI figure marks another solid start to a quarter for India’s manufacturing sector, with the index having averaged 57.9 in April-June and 55.7 in the first quarter of 2023.
- Oil prices edged lower on Tuesday on signs of profit-taking after rallying in July when investors wagered on tightening global supplies and demand growth in the second half of the year. Brent crude futures for October were at $84.72 a barrel at 11:49 ET, down 71 cents. Front-month Brent settled at its highest since April 13 on Monday.
- Spot gold was down 1 percent at $1,943.39 per ounce by 11:52 a.m. ET, while US gold futures dropped 1.4 percent to $1,981.0. “Gold prices are softening as we see movement higher in the U.S. dollar. There is also some profit taking ahead a nonfarm payroll report in the week,” said Edward Moya, senior market analyst at OANDA.
Key Equity Indices
| EMERGING | LATEST | % 1D |
| Hang Seng | 20,011 | (0.3) % |
| Shanghai Composite | 3,291 | 0.0 % |
| DEVELOPED | LATEST | % 1D |
| Dow Jones | 35,631 | 0.2 % |
| DAX | 16,240 | (1.3) % |
| FTSE 100 | 7,666 | (0.4) % |
| Nikkei | 33,477 | 0.9 % |
| Straits Times | 3,374 | (0.0) % |
