Key Things To Know Before The Markets Open Today

The Indian equity benchmarks are likely to open higher on Monday, July 4, as indicated by the Nifty Futures traded on the Singapore Exchange. The Nifty Futures of Singapore Exchange also known as SGX Nifty Futures rose 99 points or 0.63 per cent to 15,844.

The Indian equity benchmarks gained for the second straight week for the week ended July 1 but the gains were capped owing to selling pressure in the index heavyweight Reliance Industries Ltd. (RIL). Sensex advanced 0.34 per cent to close at 52,908 and Nifty 50 index rose 0.34 per cent to settle at 15,752.

The indices however posted their worst quarterly performance since the early days of Covid-19. For the first quarter of the current fiscal, Sensex has fallen 9.66 per cent and Nifty fell 9.8 per cent.

Benchmarks reacted violently, grasping Indian as well as global factors throughout the week. Global markets are on shaky ground as the highest inflation in decades, supply-chain shortages and geopolitical tensions weigh on the outlook for growth around the world, says Sumeet Bagadia, executive director at Choice Broking.

Here are key things to know before market opens on Monday:

Asia Markets

Among Asian markets Japan’s Nikkei fell1.3 per cent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng declined 0.7 per cent and South Korea’s KOSPI declined 1.2 per cent

US Markets

Stocks on Wall Street shook off a downbeat start and ended broadly higher Friday, though the rebound was not enough to erase their losses for the week.

The S&P 500 rose 1.1 per cent after having been down 0.9 per cent in the early going. The gain snapped a four-day losing streak for the benchmark index, which still posted its fourth losing week in the last five.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1 per cent, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq gained 0.9 per cent after a sell-off in technology stocks eased.

The latest choppy trading comes a day after the S&P 500 closed out its worst quarter since the onset of the pandemic in early 2020. Its performance in the first half of 2022 was the worst since the first six months of 1970.

Crude Oil and Gold Price Check

Benchmark U.S. crude oil for August delivery rose $2.67 to $108.43 a barrel Friday. Brent crude for September delivery rose $2.60 to $111.63 a barrel.

Gold for August delivery fell $5.80 to $1,801.50 an ounce. Silver for September delivery fell 68 cents to $19.67 an ounce and September copper fell 11 cents to $3.60 a pound.

The dollar fell to 135.26 Japanese yen from 135.58 yen. The euro fell to $1.0425 from $1.0479.

Foreign Flows

Foreign institutional investors sold shares worth Rs 2,325 crore on Friday while domestic institutional investors bought shares worth Rs 1,311 crore. 

Rupee Check

The rupee rebounded from its all-time low to close 12 paise higher at 78.94 (provisional) against the US dollar on Friday.

At the interbank forex market, the local unit opened at 78.99 against the greenback and fell to an intra-day low of 79.12. 

It finally settled at 78.94, a rise of 12 paise over its previous close.

Stocks In Focus

HDFC, HDFC Bank: HDFC Bank has received observation letter with 'no adverse observations' from BSE Limited and observation letter with 'no objection' from the National Stock Exchange of India Limited, both dated July 2, 2022, HDFC Bank said in a filing.

"The scheme remains subject to various statutory and regulatory approvals inter alia including approvals from the Reserve Bank of India, Competition Commission of India, the National Company Law Tribunal and the respective shareholders and creditors of the companies involved in the scheme, as may be required," it said.

Earlier on April 4, India's largest private lender HDFC Bank agreed to take over the biggest domestic mortgage lender in a deal valued at about $40 billion, creating a financial services titan.

Punjab National Bank: The domestic housing sector is set to grow for the next five years after a lull of several years and the housing finance companies are well poised to tap this opportunity aided with sectoral reforms such as RERA and GST that have brought in the much needed transparency, PNB Housing Finance said in its annual report 2021-22.

India showed resilience and recovered quickly from the pandemic induced challenges, emerging as the fastest-growing economies in the world, Hardayal Prasad, Managing Director and CEO, PNB Housing Finance, said in his address to shareholders.

Vedanta: Vedanta Group expects its semiconductor business turnover to be in the range of $3 to 3.5 billion out of which around $1 billion will come from exports, a senior official of the company said.

Vedanta Group's global managing director of display and semiconductor business Akarsh Hebbar told PTI that its JV partner Foxconn has all the agreements and required technologies in place to start making electronic chips.

Vedanta Foxconn JV is among three companies that have applied for setting up semiconductor manufacturing units in the country. Vedanta has also applied for setting up a display fabrication plant to make screens that are used for display in electronic devices.

Maruti Suzuki: Betting big on green technologies, Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) plans to have strong hybrid technology across its model range in the next 5-7 years, as per a senior company official.

The auto major aims to have strong and mild hybrid technologies as part of an initiative to have environment-friendly technology elements in each of its models, enabling better fuel efficiency and reduced carbon footprint.

Battery electric vehicles, CNG cars and greater focus on ethanol and bio-CNG compliant engines would also be prioritised going ahead.