Sensex, Nifty to open tad higher; Delhivery, Venus Pipes & Tubes listing eyed

Indian equity benchmarks, the BSE Sensex and the NSE Nifty, are likely to open on a subdued note on Tuesday, tracking weak cues from Asian peers which slipped after a fall in U.S. stock futures. In the overnight trade, Wall Street ended higher, driven by a strong rally in bank and tech stocks. The muted trends on SGX Nifty also indicated a flat opening for the domestic bourses, with SGX Nifty futures trading 39 points, or 0.24%, higher at 16,214 on the Singapore Stock Exchange at 8:10 AM. Investors will keep a close eye on the listing of logistics firm Delhivery and stainless steel pipes and tubes manufacturer Venus Pipes & Tubes, which will make their debut on domestic bourses today. On the earnings front, Adani Ports, Bank of India, RailTel, RITES, Strides Pharma Science, and Zee Media will unveil their results today.

On Monday, the domestic bourses closed flat in choppy trade as gains in auto and capital goods sectors were offset by sharp losses in metal and oil and gas space. In a highly volatile session, the BSE Sensex ended 38 points lower at 54,289, while the broader NSE Nifty declined 51 points to settle at 16,215. The top losers on the BSE Sensex pack were Tata Steel, UltraTech Cement, ITC, Power Grid, HDFC, HDFC Bank, HCL Technologies, and Reliance Industries. On the flip side, M&M, Maruti, Hindustan Unilever, Larsen & Toubro, Asian Paints, and Kotak Mahindra Bank were among notable gainers.

Shares to watch

Zomato: The food delivery platform saw its net loss growing by nearly-three fold to ₹359.7 crore in the quarter ended March 2022, compared with ₹134.2 crore in the corresponding quarter last year. The food ordering app’s revenue from operations jumped 75% year-on-year to ₹1,211.8 crore, as against ₹692.4 crore in the same quarter of the previous fiscal.

Marico: The FMCG major has acquired a majority stake in HW Wellness Solutions Pvt Ltd, the owner of direct-to-consumer snacks brand True Elements. The Mumbai-headquartered company bought a 53.98% equity stake in the digital-first “healthy breakfast” brand through primary infusion and secondary buyouts.

Jet Airways: Days after it received the regulator’s nod to resume operations, Jet Airways has announced names of new appointments to its leadership team. The airline has appointed Mark Turner as the vice president of inflight product and services, Prabh Sharan Singh as chief digital officer, HR Jagannath as vice president of engineering, and Vishesh Khanna as vice president of sales, distribution, and customer engagement.

Steel Authority of India (SAIL): The state-owned firm reported 29% YoY decline in consolidated net profit at ₹2,479 crore for the quarter ending March 31, 2022. The consolidated revenue from operations jumped 32% to ₹30,759 crore as against ₹23,285 crore in Q4FY21.

Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC): The oil and gas major has become the first gas producer to trade domestic gas on the Indian Gas Exchange. The gas traded was from ONGC Krishna Godavari 98/2 block, however the volume was not specified.

Maruti Suzuki India (MSI): The auto major on Monday said it will acquire a 12.09% stake in artificial intelligence software company Sociograph Solutions Pvt Ltd (SSPL) for about ₹2 crore.

Olectra Greentech: The company has bagged the biggest ever order worth ₹3,675 crore for 2,100 electric buses from Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport (BEST).

Rupa & Co: The company’s CEO Dinesh Kumar Lodha and its CFO Ramesh Agarwal have resigned. The company said in an exchange filing that it has accepted their resignations.

F&O ban: Shares of Delta Corp, GNFC, and Indiabulls Housing Finance will be under F&O ban today as their securities have crossed 95% of the market-wide position limit.

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

Tech, bank stocks propel Wall Street higher

In the overnight trade, all three major U.S. indices closed higher in a broad-based rally, driven by gains in banking stocks and a rebound in tech shares such as Apple Inc and Microsoft Corp. The market witnessed relief rally ahead of the Fed latest policy meeting’s minutes on Wednesday, which will give some indication about the central bank’s future rate hike plans. In recent times, markets had been rattled by concerns about boiling inflation and aggressive policy stance by the Federal Reserve. On Wall Street, the Dow Jones index rose 1.98%, the S&P 500 added 1.86%, while the Nasdaq also ended higher by 1.59%.

Asian stocks fall

Shares in the Asia-Pacific region were reeling under selling pressure in opening trade on Tuesday, undermining strong cues from Wall Street which rebounded strongly overnight. The market sentiment was dented by decline in U.S. stock futures, while concerns about potential rate hike by the European Central Bank and U.S. Federal Reserve.

Regional heavyweight Japan’s Nikkei 225 slipped 0.5%, South Korea’s KOSPI fell 0.8%, and Taiwan’s Weighted index shed 0.3%. The Hang Seng index in Hong Kong also declined 0.7%.

In mainland China, the Shenzhen Component and the Shanghai Composite fell 0.8% and 0.3%, respectively.

Bucking the trend, the Straits Times Index in Singapore and Australia’s ASX 200 edge higher, Indonesia’s Jakarta Composite rallied 1.3%.

Crude prices retreat on recession concerns

The price of Brent and U.S. crude was down nearly 1% in early trade on Tuesday, extending overnight losses, amid growing concerns about economic recession in the backdrop of higher inflation and aggressive rate hike by central banks globally. However, tight global supply amid ban on Russian oil imports and improving fuel demand in China with easing Covid-19 restrictions, restricted fall in crude prices.

In Asian trading hours, the Brent oil for July delivery slipped 0.5% to $110.2 per barrel, while the U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude June futures dropped 0.5% to $109.7 a barrel.

FIIs remain net sellers, DIIs net buyers

The foreign institutional investors (FIIs) continued to remain net sellers in the Indian equity market on May 23, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) continued to support the market. As per the exchange data, FIIs net sold shares worth ₹1,951.17 crore, while DIIs net purchased shares worth ₹ 1,445.39 crore.

Corporate earnings

The major companies that are expected to release their March quarter earnings today include Adani Ports, Bank of India, Clariant Chemicals, eClerx Services, Grasim Industries, Ipca Laboratories, Latent View Analytics, Jyothi Labs, JM Financial, Metropolis Healthcare, Minda Industries, MTAR Technologies, NIIT, National Fertilizers, RailTel Corporation of India, Shree Renuka Sugars, RITES, Strides Pharma Science, Ugro Capital, and Zee Media.