Opening Bell:
Gift Nifty is up by 34.5 points in the early morning trade, indicating a positive opening for Indian stock market
Asian markets were mixed on Wednesday, with investors awaiting the Bank of Japan’s interest rate decision and China’s business activity data. Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell by 0.84%, and the Topix dropped 0.4%. Meanwhile, South Korea’s Kospi rose by 0.48%, while the Kosdaq remained flat. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index futures suggested a higher opening.
The US stock market ended mixed on Tuesday, weighed down by selling in chip and megacap stocks. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 203.40 points, or 0.5%, to close at 40,743.33. The S&P 500 fell by 27.10 points, or 0.5%, to 5,436.44, while the Nasdaq Composite dropped 222.78 points, or 1.28%, to 17,147.42. After the closing bell, Microsoft shares declined about 5%, and Nvidia’s share price plunged 7.04%. Apple stock rose by 0.26%, while Amazon shares fell 0.81%, and Meta shares dropped 0.54%.
Stocks News:
👉 Infosys has partnered with TDC Net, a Danish infrastructure provider, to transform TDC Net into a customer-centric technology company. This collaboration aims to modernize TDC Net’s IT infrastructure, enhance customer experience, and optimize service costs. Infosys will implement AI-driven hyper-automation and consolidate TDC Net’s IT systems to boost productivity.
👉 Torrent Power reported an 88% year-on-year increase in first-quarter profit. Consolidated net profit rose to ₹972 crore in the April-June quarter, compared to ₹517 crore in the previous fiscal year. Revenue from operations increased by 23.3% to ₹9,034 crore.
👉 GAIL reported a 93% year-on-year increase in net profit, reaching ₹2,723.98 crore in the first quarter of FY25, compared to ₹1,412 crore in the previous fiscal year. Revenue from operations grew by 5% year-on-year to ₹34,063.26 crore, up from ₹32,495.07 crore in the previous fiscal year.
👉 Varun Beverages reported a 26% year-on-year increase in net profit for Q2FY24, reaching ₹1,253 crore for the June quarter, compared to ₹994 crore in the same period last year. Revenue from operations rose by 29% to ₹7,333.6 crore, up from ₹5,699.7 crore in Q1FY24.
👉 The foreign institutional investors (FIIs) extended their selling as they sold equities worth Rs 5,598 crore on July 30, while domestic institutional investors bought equities worth Rs 5,565 crore on the same day.
Domestic and International Events
- The capital markets regulator, SEBI, has proposed several near-term measures to prevent speculative trading in index derivatives. These measures include curbing multiple option contract expiries and increasing the size of options contracts. The seven suggestions made by the market watchdog aim to curb market speculation, enhance investor protection, and ensure greater market stability.
- US job openings fell marginally in June, dropping by 46,000 to 8.184 million by the last day of the month, according to the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) report. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast 8.0 million job openings for June.
- Crude oil prices traded higher, recovering from seven-week lows amid rising geopolitical tensions in the Middle East. Brent crude futures rose 0.5% to $79.02 a barrel, while US West Texas Intermediate crude futures gained 0.7% to $75.25 a barrel. Both Brent and WTI had fallen about 1.4% on Tuesday, closing at their lowest levels in seven weeks.
| EMERGING | LATEST | % 1D |
| Hang Seng | 17,003 | (1.4) % |
| Shanghai Composite | 2,879 | (0.4) % |
| DEVELOPED | LATEST | % 1D |
| Dow Jones | 40,743 | 0.5 % |
| DAX | 18,411 | 0.5 % |
| FTSE 100 | 8,274 | (0.2) % |
| Nikkei | 38,526 | 0.2 % |
| Straits Times | 3,442 | (0.1) % |
