Stock Market Today: Top 10 things to know before the market opens on 2nd August
Equity benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty are expected to open marginally lower on August 2 as trends in the GIFT Nifty indicate a mildly negative start for the broader index with a loss of 50 points.
The BSE Sensex in the previous session lost 68 points to close at 66,459 points while the Nifty50 closed 20 points lower at 19,733 points trading comfortably higher than its 200-day moving average of 19,485 and trying to consolidate on the ongoing momentum.
The pivot point calculator suggests that the Nifty may get support at 19,710, followed by 19,688 and 19,654. In case of an upside, 19,779 can be the key resistance followed by 19,801 and 19,836.
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 mildly negative start for the broader index with a loss of 50 points after Nifty closed 20 points lower at 19,733 points on August 1.
GIFT Nifty futures stood at 19,782 points.
US Markets
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 percent. S&P 500 and Nasdaq-100 futures dipped 0.3 percent and 0.4 percent, 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.”
Advanced Micro Devices rose 2 percent in extended trading after reporting better-than-expected quarterly results. Meanwhile, SolarEdge Technologies tumbled 12 percent after missing second-quarter revenue expectations.
Those moves came after a lackluster first day of trading in August in the S&P 500.
On Tuesday, the broad market index fell 0.27 percent, while the Nasdaq Composite declined 0.43 percent.
Meanwhile, the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 71.15 points, or 0.2 percent.
At one point during the session, the Dow reached its highest level since February 2022.
European Markets
European markets closed lower on Tuesday as investors digested a busy week of earnings after logging a winning month in July. The Stoxx 600 index provisionally closed 0.88 percent lower, with all major bourses and sectors finishing in negative territory. Autos led losses, falling 1.6 percent, while financial services stocks were down 1.45 percent.
After rising 0.4 percent in morning trade, oil and gas stocks were 0.8 percent lower in the afternoon.
The pan-European benchmark closed slightly higher Monday, aided by health-care stocks and a report showing euro zone inflation eased further in July.
It gained 1.9 percent through the month, according to Eikon data. Euro zone manufacturing activity fell in July at the fastest pace since the start of the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, a new survey showed Tuesday.
FTSE closed 0.43 percent lower at 7,666 points. DAX closed 1.26 percent lower at 16,240 points.
Asian Markets
Asia-Pacific markets fell Wednesday after ratings agency Fitch cut the US credit rating from AAA to AA+, citing “expected fiscal deterioration over the next three years.”
IG market analyst Tony Sycamore said this will spark risk aversion flows, which means lower equities in Asia, as well as safe haven buying of treasuries and currencies such as the Japanese yen and Swiss franc against riskier currencies, such as the Australian and New Zealand dollars.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 led losses in the region and slid 1.48 percent, while the Topix is also down 1.11 percent.
South Korea’s Kospi slid 0.45 percent in early trade and the Kosdaq also dipped marginally.
The country saw its inflation rate for July come in at 2.3 percent — its lowest level in 25 months.
Meanwhile, Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 dropped 0.8 percent, a day after the Reserve Bank of Australia held its benchmark interest rate at 4.1 percent.
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.
India can become third-largest economy by 2027-28: Nilesh Shah and Indranil Sengupta
Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on July 27 that India will become the third-largest economy in the world by the financial year 2027-28, during his third term in office.
Moneycontrol caught up with two economic and financial minds, Nilesh Shah of Kotak Asset Management and Indranil Sengupta of CLSA, to understand if India can become the third-largest economy in the world and how long it will take for us to see a change in per capita income and quality of life on the ground.
The broad consensus is that the target set by the Prime Minister is ‘eminently achievable’.
According to several reports, including those put out by the State Bank of India (SBI) and Shah and Sengupta, India could well become the third-largest economy in the world by 2027-28. “At our current growth rate, we will reach the target by 2028-29.
If we accelerate our growth rate to 7-8 percent, it can happen early,” Shah said.
ITR filings in AY24 jump 16%, peak to record high of 6.77 crore until July 31: CBDT
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.
The e-filing portal also observed its highest per hour rate of 4,96,559 of ITR filings between 5 PM to 6 PM on July 31, 2023, with highest per second rate of ITR filing of 486 (at 16:35:06 hours on that day) and highest per minute rate of ITR filing of 8,622 (at 17:54 hours)”, the taxation body said in a release.
PVR Inox Q1 results: Net loss at Rs 44 crore, revenue jumps 31.7%
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.
Analysts had expected the company to report a loss of over Rs 91 crore in the June quarter.
While the multiplex operator’s profit was down year on year (YoY), sequentially, the company narrowed the losses from Rs 285.7 crore in the previous quarter.
Revenue, too, was better than expected, up 31.7 percent YoY at Rs 1,266.6 crore.
Sequentially, revenue was up 14.6 percent from Rs 1,104.5 crore in the March quarter.
Analysts had pegged a 13 percent QoQ increase in revenue.
Oil Prices
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.
US West Texas Intermediate crude futures were at $81.13 a barrel, down 67 cents from the previous session’s settlement, which was its highest since April 14.
Oil prices may face a correction risk as the markets may have been overbought in the past month,” said Tina Teng, an analyst at CMC Markets.
Dollar Index
The Dollar index traded 0.47 percent higher in futures at 102.11, whereas the value of one dollar hovered near Rs 82.31
Gold Prices
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.
FIIs and DIIs
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.
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