Opening Bell:
Gift Nifty is up by 39.0 points in the early morning trade, indicating a positive opening for Indian stock market.
Asia-Pacific markets were mixed on Friday as rising bond yields continue to put pressure on equities in the wake of the US credit downgrade. In Asia, investors will look to the Reserve Bank of Australia’s monetary policy statement, which will detail the central bank’s rationale after it unexpectedly held rates at 4.1% on Tuesday. The S&P/ASX 200 fell marginally on its open. Japan’s Nikkei 225 sank 0.47%, extending losses from Thursday, while the Topix was also 0.45% lower. South Korea’s Kospi bucked the trend and rose 0.26%, while the Kosdaq was up 0.19%. In contrast, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index is set to rebound and open stronger, with futures standing at 19,698 compared to the HSI’s close of 19,420.87.
Nasdaq 100 futures ticked higher Thursday night as Wall Street parsed the latest earnings from big-name technology companies in the runup to a major employment report due Friday morning. Futures linked to the tech-heavy index rose about 0.2%, as did S&P 500 futures. Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 26 points, or 0.07%. Overnight in the US, all three major indexes lost ground, with the S&P 500 falling 0.25%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.19%. The Nasdaq Composite inched down 0.1%.
Stocks News:
👉Bharti Airtel: The telecom operator has registered a profit of Rs 1,612.5 crore for quarter ended June FY24, falling 46.4% over previous quarter impacted by foreign exchange loss of Rs 3,416 crore. Revenue from operations grew by 4% sequentially to Rs 37,440 crore, with average revenue per user rising 3.6% QoQ to Rs 200, while EBITDA for the quarter increased by 5% to Rs 19,746.1 crore with margin expansion of 50 bps to 52.7% compared to March FY23 quarter.
👉Eicher Motors: The automobile company has registered highest ever quarterly revenue, EBITDA and profit in the first quarter of FY24. Profit surged 50.4% year-on-year to Rs 918.3 crore for the quarter ended June FY24, with revenue rising 17.3% to Rs 3,986.4 crore. On the operating front, EBITDA jumped 22.8% to Rs 1,020.9 crore with margin expansion of 110 bps to 25.6% compared to year-ago period.
👉LIC Housing Finance: The housing finance company has registered a massive 43% year-on-year growth in profit at Rs 1,323.7 crore for the quarter ended June FY24, beating analysts estimates. Net interest income grew by 38.4% to Rs 2,252.3 crore compared to year-ago period.
👉Hindalco Industries: Subsidiary Novelis Inc, the aluminum solutions provider, has announced net income attributable to common shareholder at $156 million for quarter ended June FY24, falling 49% compared to year-ago period. The fall in net income attributed to lower adjusted EBITDA, higher interest expense, and significantly higher gains on unrealised derivatives in the prior year that did not recur. The adjusted EBITDA fell 25% YoY to $403 million, primarily driven by lower shipments, cost inflation, and less favourable metal benefit from recycling. Net sales decreased 20% YoY to $4.1 billion during the quarter impacted by lower average aluminum prices and a 9% decrease in total flat rolled product shipments to 879 kilo tonnes, partially offset by increased product pricing and favorable product mix.
👉Foreign institutional investors (FII) offloaded shares worth Rs 317.46 crore, whereas domestic institutional investors (DII) bought Rs 1,729.19 crore worth of stocks on August 3, provisional data from the National Stock Exchange (NSE) shows.
Domestic and International Events
- S&P Global’s India services purchasing managers’ index rose to 62.3 in July from June’s 58.5, confounding expectations in a Reuters poll for a dip to 58.0. While India’s manufacturing sector PMI dipped to 57.7 in July, robust services activity propelled the overall S&P Global India Composite PMI Output Index to a 13-year high of 61.9. According to government data, India’s GDP growth accelerated to 6.1% in the January to March 2023 quarter, pushing the annual growth (for FY23) to 7.2% from 7% estimated earlier.
- The initial public offer (IPO) of SBFC Finance sailed through on the first day of the book-building process on Thursday, with the issue garnering over 1.91 times bids at close on Day 1. Strong demand from retail and non-institutional investors helped the IPO get fully subscribed. The retail portion was subscribed 2.06 times, NII portion was subscribed 4.12 times, while the QIB portion was subscribed just 3%.
- Oil prices gained about 2% on Thursday as Saudi Arabia and Russia took steps to keep supplies tight into September and possibly beyond. Brent futures rose $1.94, or 2.3%, to settle at $85.14 a barrel, while US West Texas Intermediate crude rose $2.06, or 2.6%, to settle at $81.55. A lack of big price moves in recent weeks has cut Brent’s historic or actual 30-day close-to-close futures volatility to its lowest since February 2022.
- Gold was near a more than three-week low on Thursday, dragged by a robust dollar and elevated bond yields, while investors remained cautious ahead of July US nonfarm payrolls data. Spot gold was flat at $1,933.80 per ounce by 2:34pm EDT (1834 GMT), after hitting its lowest since July 11. US gold futures settled 0.3 percent lower at $1,968.80.
Key Equity Indices
| EMERGING | LATEST | % 1D |
| Hang Seng | 19,421 | (0.5) % |
| Shanghai Composite | 3,280 | 0.6 % |
| DEVELOPED | LATEST | % 1D |
| Dow Jones | 35,216 | (0.2) % |
| DAX | 15,893 | (0.8) % |
| FTSE 100 | 7,529 | (0.4) % |
| Nikkei | 32,159 | (1.7) % |
| Straits Times | 3,304 | (0.6) % |
