Sensex, Nifty to open in red; HDFC Bank, Infosys, Tata Steel, M&M, Lupin shares eyed

Indian benchmark indices, the BSE Sensex and the NSE Nifty, are poised to open lower on Monday, mirroring weakness in Asian peers and a negative finish at Wall Street on rate hike concerns. The negative trends on SGX Nifty also indicated a gap-down opening for the domestic bourses, with SGX Nifty futures trading 80 points, or 0.46%, lower at 17,250 on the Singapore Stock Exchange at 8:20 AM. Investors will keep an eye on corporate earnings numbers for future clues, with IT firm Mindtree, mortgage lender Star Housing Finance and others slated to release their earnings reports today. On the macro front, WPI-based inflation numbers will be announced later in the day.

Last week, the domestic equities settled the holiday-shortened week in a negative terrain amid concerns about rising inflation and fear of a potential hawkish policy stance by the U.S. Federal Reserve. The benchmark BSE Sensex ended the week with a loss of 1,108 points, or 1.9%, at 58,334 on April 13. The 50-share NSE Nifty index fell 1.7% to 17,476 during the same period. Hindalco Industries was the top laggard, followed by Tata Motors, Wipro, Coal India, and Bajaj Finserv, among others. Among sectors, the information technology index declined the most, followed by teck, metal, realty and capital goods.

Stocks to focus:

HDFC Bank: The country’s largest private sector lender by assets has posted 22.82% year-on-year (YoY) growth in its net profit at ₹10,055.2 crore for the fourth quarter ended March 31, 2021. The net revenues (net interest income plus others income) increased 7.3% YoY to ₹26,509.8 crore in Q4 FY22.

Infosys: The country's second-largest IT services company has recorded a 12% year-on-year rise in its consolidated net profit to ₹5,685 crore in the January-March quarter of the financial year 2021-22. The consolidated revenue from operations has grown 22.7% to ₹32,376 crore, compared to ₹26,311 crore during the corresponding quarter last year.

Coal India: The state-owned coal miner to launch its own e-auction platform and has informed new and existing bidders to register on the portal, according to a company official.

Tata Steel: The board of steelmaker will consider a proposal to split its equity shares of a face value of ₹10 apiece. The decision will be subject to regulatory, statutory and shareholder approvals.

ONGC: The oil and gas major has successfully drilled three gas wells in Tripura by using new technology, Managed Pressure Drilling (MPD), a company official said.

ICICI Prudential Life Insurance: The insurer has reported over two-fold jump in its net profit to Rs 185 crore for the January-March quarter, as compared to ₹64 crore in the year-ago period.

Lupin: The drugmaker has received approval from the US health regulator for an anti-depressant drug, Desvenlafaxine tablets 25 mg.

Mahindra & Mahindra: The auto major has increased the price of its vehicles by 2.5% in the backdrop of rise in prices of key commodities such as steel, aluminium, and palladium.

TVS Motor: The two-and-three-wheeler maker has bought 1.81% stake in Roppen Transportation Services (Rapido).

UltraTech Cement: The Aditya Birla group company’s wholly-owned subsidiary in UAE has invested $101 million to acquire a 29.39% stake in RAK Cement Co for white cement and construction materials PSC.

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

U.S. stocks end lower

On Wall Street, all three major U.S. indices closed lower on Friday amid looming fear about aggressive policy stance by the Federal Reserve in the coming months, while concerns about the Russia-Ukraine war and the Covid-19 situation in China also dented market sentiment. The S&P 500 dropped 1.21%, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.33%, and the Nasdaq Composite plunged 2.14%.

Asian markets fall in early deals

Shares in the Asia-Pacific region were trading mostly lower in opening trade on Wednesday, tracking weak cues from the U.S. markets. The concerns about aggressive rate hikes by the U.S. Federal Reserve and the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict dented market sentiments.

Japan’s benchmark index Nikkei 225 slumped 1.9% in opening deals, South Korea’s KOSPI fell 0.1%, and the Straits Times Index in Singapore dropped 0.4%. In a similar trend, Thailand’s SET Composite shed 0.25%, while Taiwan’s Weighted index slipped 0.35%.

Bucking the trend, Australia’s ASX 200 index rose 0.6% and Indonesia’s Jakarta Composite added 0.5%.

In mainland China, the Shenzhen Component traded flat with a negative bias, while the Shanghai Composite fell 0.9% in early trade.

Oil prices rebound as Ukraine crisis worsens

The price of Brent and U.S. crude oil rebounded on Monday amid fresh concerns about tighter global supply, with the worsening situation in Ukraine raising the prospect of more sanctions on Russia. In Asian trading hours on Monday, the Brent oil for June delivery rose 1% to $112.8 per barrel, while the U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures climbed 0.8% to $107.2 a barrel.

Meanwhile, domestic oil retailers kept petrol and diesel prices unchanged for the twelfth day in a row on Monday, after several hikes in the last one month. The domestic oil companies have raised fuel rates by ₹10 per litre since the ending of a four-and-half-month long hiatus in rate revision on March 22, when the results of five Assembly polls were announced.

FPIs withdraw ₹4,500 cr from equities last week

Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) have flushed out over ₹4,500 crore from the Indian equity market last week amid fears of a higher-than-expected rate hike by the US Federal Reserve in wake of rising inflation.

FIIs remain net sellers, DIIs net buyers

The foreign institutional investors (FIIs) turned net sellers in the Indian equity market on April 13, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) remained net buyers. As per the exchange data, FIIs offloaded shares worth ₹2,061 crore, while DIIs net purchased shares worth ₹1,410.85 crore.

Corporate earnings

Mindtree, Star Housing Finance, Ramsarup Industries, Sheetal Cool Products, SE Power, SM Gold, Earum Pharmaceuticals, DRC Systems India, Mishtann Foods, and Swiss Military Consumer Goods will unveil their quarterly results today.