Sensex, Nifty to drop; HUL, Ambuja Cements, L&T Finance, IndusInd Bank, Jubilant Foodworks eyed

The domestic benchmarks, the BSE Sensex and the NSE Nifty, are set to fall in opening trade on Tuesday as a rally in Asia and Wall Street were halted due to persistent concerns about global economic growth. The weak trends on SGX Nifty also indicated a gap-down opening for the domestic bourses, with SGX Nifty futures trading 118 points, or 0.73%, lower at 16,171 levels on the Singapore Stock Exchange at 8:00 AM. Investors will keep an eye on corporate results, foreign fund movement, trends in the rupee, and crude oil, which will set directions for the market. Among individual stocks, Hindustan Unilever, Ambuja Cements, and L&T Finance Holdings will be in focus ahead of their quarterly earnings report.

On Monday, the Indian share market ended with solid gains, driven by a surge in buying across IT, oil and gas, and banking spaces as well as positive cues from global peers. Extending gains for the second straight session, the BSE Sensex rallied 760 points, or 1.41%, to settle at 54,521, and the NSE Nifty added 229 points, or 1.43%, to 16,278. The top gainers in the Sensex pack were IndusInd Bank, Infosys, Tech Mahindra, TCS, Reliance Industries, Bajaj Finserv, Axis Bank, Kotak Bank, ICICI Bank, and SBI. Among BSE sectoral indices, IT was the best performer with 3.07%, followed by teck, metal, bank, basic materials, and capital goods, which gained up to 3%.

Stocks to watch

IndusInd Bank: The private sector lender has received its board nod to raise capital up to ₹20,000 crore through debt securities on a private placement basis, subject to approval of members of the bank.

Jubilant Foodworks: The company’s arm, Jubilant Foodworks Netherlands BV (JFN), has raised its stake in DP Eurasia N V (DPEU) to 44.75%. DPEU is the exclusive franchisee of Domino’s Pizza brand in Turkey, Russia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia.

Adani Enterprises: Coal India has reportedly canceled its maiden tender for short-term import of coal in which Adani Enterprises had emerged as the lowest bidder.

Mahindra & Mahindra: The auto major has raised its stake in the Finland-based arm Sampo Rosenlew Oy to 100% with the acquisition of residual shares for over ₹35 crore.

Tube Investments of India: The company, through its subsidiary TI Clean Mobility Pvt Ltd (TICMPL), has acquired a 65.2% stake in IPLTech Electric for ₹246 crore.

Jet Airways: The airline is reportedly in talk to close a deal to buy 50 A220 jets from Airbus. As per the report, the board of the company was expected to meet on Monday to finalise the deal.

Bank of Maharashtra: The PSU lender has reported 117% year-on-year (YoY) growth in net profit at ₹451.9 crore in the quarter ended June (Q1FY23) on the back of improvement in its net interest margins (NIMs). The Pune-based lender’s net interest income (NII) rose by 19.9% in Q1FY23 to ₹1,685.7 crore from ₹1,405.9 crore in Q1FY22.

Surya Roshni: The company has secured orders worth ₹91.27 crore for API-5L-grade 3LPE-coated pipes from Bharat Gas Resources. The order has to be delivered within 12 months.

Nelco: The Tata group company has reported 7.8% year-on-year growth in profit at ₹4.72 crore in Q1FY23, while revenue rose 48%.

Here are the key things investors should know before the market opens today:

Tech stocks drag Wall Street lower

In the overnight trade, U.S. stocks ended lower due to weakness in technology stocks, led by Apple amid a report that the iPhone maker plans to slow down hiring and spending. The market witnessed cautious trading as investors assessed the outlook for corporate earnings and risks to economic growth as the central bank is set to hike rates later this month to combat inflation. The Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 0.7%, the S&P 500 index fell 0.8%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite ended 0.8% lower.

Barring Japan, Asian stocks fall

Shares in the Asia-Pacific region were trading mostly lower in opening trade on Tuesday, barring Japan, tracking a negative finish on Wall Street overnight amid persistent fear about policy tightening by the U.S. central bank later this month.

Regional heavyweight Japan’s Nikkei 225 was up 0.7% in early trade, while South Korea’s Kospi fell 0.4%, and the Straits Times in Singapore traded marginally lower by 0.1%.

The Hang Seng index in Hong Kong was the biggest laggard in the regional market with a 1% loss, while Australia’s ASX 200 shed 0.2%. Among others, Taiwan Weighted fell 0.2% and Jakarta Composite in Indonesia dropped 0.3%.

Markets in mainland China were mixed, with the Shanghai Composite falling by 0.2%, while the Shenzhen Component rising by 0.1%.

Oil prices steady

After surging more than 5% in overnight trade, the price of Brent and U.S. crude were steady around $100 mark in early trade on Tuesday as Saudi Arabia refrained from making any promises regarding future production increases during US President Joe Biden’s visit to the country. A weaker dollar supported buying interest, which was offset by recession fears and bleak demand outlook due to Covid restrictions in China.

In Asian trading hours on Tuesday, the Brent oil for September delivery was flat at $106.3 per barrel, while the U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude August futures were up 0.02% at $99.44 a barrel.

FIIs, DIIs turn net buyer

The foreign institutional investors (FIIs) turned net buyers in the Indian equity market on July 18, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) continued to support the market. As per the exchange data, FIIs net brought shares worth ₹156.08 crore, while DIIs net purchased shares worth ₹844.33 crore.

Corporate results

The major companies that will announce their June quarter results on July 19 include Hindustan Unilever, Ambuja Cements, L&T Finance Holdings, HDFC Life Insurance Company, ICICI Lombard General Insurance Company, Network18 Media & Investments, and TV18 Broadcast. Among others, AU Small Finance Bank, DCM Shriram, Garware Synthetics, Hatsun Agro Product, Kirloskar Pneumatic, Polycab India, Ponni Sugars (Erode), Rallis India, Shemaroo Entertainment, and Steel Strips Wheels will also release their quarterly earnings today.