Stock Market Today: Top 10 things to know before the market opens on 4th August
Equity benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty are expected to open higher on August 4 as trends in the GIFT Nifty indicate a mildly positive start for the broader index with a gain of 33 points.
The BSE Sensex lost 542 points to close the previous session at 65,240 points, while the Nifty50 closed 144 points lower at 19,381 points trading comfortably higher than its 200-day moving average of 19,542 and trying to sustain the ongoing momentum.
The pivot point calculator indicates that the Nifty may get support at 19,313, followed by 19,256 and 19,164.
In case of an upside, 19,497 can be the key resistance, followed by 19,554 and 19,647.
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 positive start for the broader index with a gain of 33 points after Nifty closed 144 points lower at 19,381 points on August 3. GIFT Nifty futures stood at 19,489 points.
US Markets
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 percent, as did S&P 500 futures.
Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 26 points, or 0.07 percent.
A deluge of earnings reports released after the bell sent individual stocks moving.
Amazon jumped nearly 9 percent after trouncing expectations on profit and offering positive guidance, while Apple lost around 2 percent after revenue came in lower than it did in the same quarter a year ago.
Beyond mega-cap tech, Airbnb slid after the company said nights and experiences booked grew at a slower rate than Wall Street anticipated. DraftKings and Dropbox jumped around 13 percent and 4 percent on the back of reports that exceeded analysts’ expectations.
With just Friday’s session left in the trading week, the three major indexes are on pace to end lower.
The Nasdaq Composite and S&P 500— down about 2.5 percent and 1.8 percent — are poised to post their worst weekly performances since March. The Dow has slid 0.7 percent on a week-to-date basis.
European Markets
European stock markets fell Thursday as investors assessed earnings season and the latest rate hike by the Bank of England.
The pan-European Stoxx 600 index provisionally closed 0.7 percent lower with most sectors in decline.
Tech stocks led the losses with a 1.8% downturn as global sentiment remained gloomy after Fitch Ratings downgraded the United States’ long-term credit rating from AAA to AA+.
The oil and gas sector, meanwhile, climbed 0.7 percent after Saudi Arabia said it would extend a 1 million barrel per day voluntary crude oil output.
The BOE announced a 25-basis point hike, bringing its main rate to 5.25 percent.
The benchmark Stoxx closed 1.35 percent lower in the previous session, with all sectors and bourses in negative territory.
Asia-Pacific markets extended their losses on Thursday, tracking Wall Street’s sell-off. Germany’s DAX dropped 0.79 percent to 15,893 points and the UK’s FTSE declined by 0.43 percent to 7529 points.
Asian Markets
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 percent on Tuesday.
The S&P/ASX 200 fell marginally on its open.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 sank 0.47 percent, extending losses from Thursday, while the Topix was also 0.45 percent lower. South Korea’s Kospi bucked the trend and rose 0.26 percent, while the Kosdaq was up 0.19 percent.
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.
Overnight in the US, all three major indexes lost ground, with the S&P 500 falling 0.25 percent, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.19 percent. The Nasdaq Composite inched down 0.1 percent.
LIC Housing Finance Q1 results: Net profit up 43% to Rs 1,324 crore
LIC Housing Finance Limited on August 3 reported a 43 percent jump in standalone net profit at Rs 1,324 crore for the quarter ended June 30, 2023 on the back of strong demand in housing loans.
The company had posted a net profit of Rs 925 crore in the year-ago period.
The company’s net interest income (NII) grew 38 percent to Rs 2,252 crore in the quarter under review from Rs 1,628 crore in the last fiscal.
The stage 3 exposure at default (gross non-performing asset) as of June 30, 2023, stood at 4.98 per cent against 4.96 per cent as of June 2022.
However, net NPA decreased to 2.99 percent from 3.01 percent on-year.
LIC Housing Finance’s total expenses in the said quarter rose 23 percent, with finance costs rising 23 percent to Rs 4,494 crore, while interest income rose 28 percent to Rs 6,704 crore.
India cynosure of all eyes as Morgan Stanley, S&P turn bullish on economy
India’s status as the bright spot in an uncertain global economy is seemingly getting brighter as key global voices have weighed in with their bullish hopes about the future of the economy.
In a report titled ‘Look Forward: India’s Moment’, global data, research, and analytics firm S&P Global said “everyone is watching India” at a time when the world is in the midst of disruptions.
“The trillion-dollar question is whether India can sustain high growth… Our answer to the sustained growth question is a conditional ‘yes’,” S&P Global said in its report, released on August 3.
“We expect India to grow 6.7 percent per year from 2023-24 to 2030-31, catapulting GDP to $6.7 trillion from $3.4 trillion in 2022-23. Per capita GDP will rise to about $4,500,” the agency added.
Fitch re-rating US won’t impact India, says S&P Global’s Atul Arya
India may not face any significant fallout from Fitch Ratings downgrading US sovereign credit citing ballooning fiscal deficit and erosion of governance, said Atul Arya, Senior Vice President and Chief Energy Strategist, S&P Global Commodity Insights.
In terms of longer-term trends, we do not see any impact on India,” Arya told Moneycontrol in an interview on August 3.
Terming the South Asian nation a “bullish emerging market”, he further said that there seems to be no rethinking on big investments coming into India, at least from the US, even after the re-rating.
I haven’t seen any commitments being pulled out or downgraded due to the re-rating. India is a growth story.
We will see bumps in the world, including in India, but the challenge and opportunity for the Indian government and people lies in how they tackle the bumps and keep growing,” Arya said.
Oil Prices
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 percent, to settle at $85.14 a barrel, while US West Texas Intermediate crude rose $2.06, or 2.6 percent, 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.
Dollar Index
The Dollar index traded 0.02 percent lower in futures at 102.55, whereas the value of one dollar hovered near Rs 82.85
Gold Prices
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.
FIIs and DIIs
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.
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