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Stock Market Today: Top 10 things to know before the market opens on 8th August

Equity benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty are expected to open marginally lower on August 8 as trends in the GIFT Nifty indicate a mildly negative start for the broader index with a loss of 25 points.

The BSE Sensex gained 232 points to close the previous session at 65,953 points, while the Nifty50 closed 80 points higher at 19,597 points trading comfortably higher than its 200-day moving average of 19,564 points and trying to sustain the ongoing momentum.

The pivot point calculator indicates that the Nifty may get support at 19,544, followed by 19,522 and 19,485.

In case of an upside, 19,617 can be the key resistance, followed by 19,640 and 19,676.

Stay tuned to Moneycontrol to find out what happens in the currency and equity markets today.

We have collated a list of important headlines across news platforms, which could impact Indian as well as international markets.

GIFT Nifty

The GIFT Nifty indicates a marginally negative start for the broader index with a loss of 25 points after Nifty closed 80 points higher at 19,597 points on August 7.

GIFT Nifty futures stood at 19,656 points.

US Markets

Stock futures were roughly flat Monday night.

Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average ticked higher by 6 points, or 0.02%. S&P 500 futures and Nasdaq 100 futures oscillated near the flat line.

Earnings season continued, shaking up select names in after-hours trading.

Palantir Technologies added more than 2% after the company posted a 13% increase in second-quarter revenue.

Educational tech company Chegg popped about 24% after reporting second-quarter revenue of $183 million, beating analysts’ estimate of $177 million, per Refinitiv.

During Monday’s regular session, the 30-stock Dow surged more than 400 points, or nearly 1.2%, for its best day since June 15. The Nasdaq Composite added 0.6%, and S&P 500 closed higher by 0.9%.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq and the broad-market index broke four-straight sessions of losses.

The corporate earnings season has so far been better-than-expected.

Roughly 85% of S&P 500 stocks have reported quarterly results, and nearly 80% of them have beaten Wall Street’s expectations, according to FactSet.

Companies still set to report results this week include United Parcel Service, Under Armour and Rivian on Tuesday, as well as Disney and Wynn Resorts on Wednesday.

“The good news is that the earnings trough/recession is likely coming to an end, with earnings growth expected to accelerate over the coming quarters,” said Dylan Kremer, co-chief investment officer at Certuity.

Looking ahead, earnings projections seem a bit lofty to us relative to revenue growth estimates, particularly starting in Q1/24.”

On the economic data front, traders are looking ahead to July’s consumer price index report, out Thursday.

The inflation metric could put Wall Street’s belief in a soft landing to the test.

Economists polled by Dow Jones are calling for a monthly increase of 0.2% in July and a year-over-year rise of 3.3%.

European Markets

European stock markets closed slightly higher on Monday as the last of earnings season results rolled in and with two key inflation prints ahead.

The regional Stoxx 600 index ended up 0.1%, with sectors and major bourses pointing in opposite directions.

Healthcare stocks advanced 0.6% as mining stocks led the losses, down 1%.

The Stoxx fell 2.4% last week, mirroring a slide in U.S. stocks as investors took profits near the end of earnings season and risk sentiment appeared to creep back to the fore.

FTSE closed 0.13 percent lower at 7,554 points and DAX closed 0.01 percent lower at 15,950 points on Monday.

Asian Markets

Asia-Pacific markets largely fell as investors look ahead to China’s inflation figures and trade balance later this week.

China will release its trade balance for Tuesday and inflation data on Wednesday, which will give clues on the country’s recovery trajectory.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index climbed marginally, but mainland Chinese markets were also all in negative territory.

The Shanghai Composite lost 0.59% to finish at 3,268.83, while the Shenzhen Component was 0.83% down to close at 11,145.03

Japan’s Nikkei 225 was up 0.19% and closed at 32,254.56, erasing earlier losses in the day, and the Topix was up 0.41% to end at 2,283.93.

In its summary of opinions for its July 28 meeting, the Bank of Japan said it still has a “significantly long way to go” before revising its stance on its negative interest rate policy.

In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 slid 0.22% to finish at 7,309.2.

South Korea’s Kospi was down 0.85% to close at 2,580.7, marking its fourth straight day of losses, while the Kosdaq saw a larger loss and tumbled 2.2% to end at 898.22.

FTSE to implement upweight of HDFC Bank in three tranches starting September

The revised free float of HDFC Bank, as a consequence of its merger with Housing Development Finance Corporation (HDFC), will be implemented in three tranches starting from September 2023 onwards, FTSE Russell said in a notification issued on August 7.

“FTSE Russell proposes to implement the upweight of HDFC Bank in three tranches in conjunction with the September 2023, December 2023, and March 2024 index reviews, with the December and March tranches contingent on the company’s foreign headroom continuing to satisfy the minimum 10 percent headroom requirement,” the notification stated.

Currently, the shares in the issue amount to 308.2 crore, with an investability weight of 95.9 percent.

The index shares add up to 295.8 crore. In the first tranche of September, the shares in issue will come in at 754.49 crore, with an investability weight of 74 percent, and the index shares will be numbered at 383.3 crore.

The tranching factor at this stage will be 33 percent, as per the details shared by FTSE.

PB Fintech sharply narrows loss to Rs 12 crore, operational income up 32% in June quarter

PB Fintech, the parent company of insurance aggregator Policybazaar, reported a sharp contraction in its consolidated loss at Rs 12 crore for the quarter ended June 2023, dramatic reduction from Rs 204 crore loss it reported during the first quarter of last year.

The company managed to reduce the losses as its contribution margin rises to 45 percent from 42 percent earlier.

Its high renewal rate, which has 85 percent margins, contributed to the company’s efforts to reduce the losses substantially.

However, the loss rose marginally on a sequential basis as the company had posted a loss of Rs 9.4 crore during the March quarter.

The results come a few days after Zomato reported a surprise net profit of Rs 2 crore during the June quarter, owing to deferred tax adjustments.

PB Fintech said that it was confident of being “significantly profit after taxes (PAT) positive” for the year.

Tata Chemicals net profit falls 9.67% to Rs 532 crore in Q1

Tata Chemicals, part of the Tata Group, on August 7 reported a 9.67 per cent decline in consolidated net profit at Rs 532 crore during the April-June quarter of the current financial year.

The company’s net profit stood at Rs 589 crore during the corresponding period of the previous fiscal, Tata Chemicals said in a regulatory filing.

Revenue from operations of the company grew by 5.58 per cent during the quarter under review at Rs 4,218 crore compared to 3,995 crores in the same period of the previous year.

The company has delivered a satisfactory performance during the first quarter of FY24, compared to Q1 FY23 despite a challenging environment.

The soda ash prices were adversely impacted as many customers delayed their purchasing decisions due to new supplies expected from inner Mongolia, China,” Tata Chemicals Managing Director and CEO R Mukundan said.

Godrej Consumer Products Q1 Result: Net profit falls 7.6% to Rs 318.8 crore, revenue rises 10.3 %, misses estimates

Godrej Consumer Products reported a consolidated net profit of Rs 318.82 crore for the April-June quarter of FY24 on August 7, registering a decline of 7.6 percent from Rs 345.12 crore in the same quarter of the previous financial year.

Total revenue of the company came at Rs 3,448.91crore, rising 10.36 percent from Rs 3,124.97 crore in the year-ago quarter, the company said in a regulatory filing.

Revenue and net profit missed estimates. According to a CNBC poll of brokerages, Godrej Consumer Products net profit was expected at Rs 428 crore and revenue at Rs 3600 crore.

Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBIDTA) were at Rs 642.8 crore, growing by 23.4 percent and the EBIDTA margin was at 18.6 percent, up 240 basis points from the year-ago quarter.

One basis point is one-hundredth of percentage point.

Oil Prices

Oil prices eased from four-month highs as crude’s summer rally takes a breather.

Global benchmark Brent futures traded lower by 0.9% at $85.44 a barrel after reaching their highest level since April.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate futures dipped 1% to $82.02 per barrel.

Despite those losses, WTI is up 1% for August, on pace for its third straight monthly gain. In July it rallied more than 15%.

Earlier in the session, crude rose following an attack on a key Russian oil export hub and extended production cuts by OPEC kingpin Saudi Arabia and Russia.

Over the weekend, Ukraine launched a naval drone attack on Russia’s port of Novorossiysk, a critical hub on the Black Sea for Russian oil exports. Ukraine did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment.

Dollar Index

The Dollar index traded 0.11 percent higher in futures at 102.13, whereas the value of one dollar hovered near Rs 82.78

Gold Prices

Gold prices were on the backfoot on Monday after Federal Reserve Governor Michelle Bowman indicated that additional interest rate hikes will likely be needed to rein in inflation.

Spot gold was down 0.3% at $1,935.39 per ounce by 09:56 a.m. EDT (1356 GMT). U.S. gold futures eased 0.3% to $1,970.60.

Silver fell 1.2% to $23.32 an ounce, while platinum slipped 0.4% to $918.37. Palladium dropped 0.7% to $1,247.81.

Palladium prices could be near a temporary bottom as supply risks could resurface driven by geopolitical tensions,” Intesa Sanpaolo economist Daniela Corsini said in a note.

FIIs and DIIs

Foreign institutional investors (FII) sold shares worth Rs 1,892.77 crore, whereas domestic institutional investors (DII) bought Rs 1,080.80 crore worth of stocks on August 7, provisional data from the National Stock Exchange (NSE) showed.

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