Market Today: Ratan Tata dies, TCS Q2, GIFT Nifty up 100 pts, Israel war

Stock Market Today, October 10, 2024: Benchmarks Nifty50 and Sensex may witness a higher opening today, buoyed by mostly positive global cues. At 6:30 AM, GIFT Nifty Futures were up 123 points at 25,207, indicating a gap-up opening for the Indian bourses.

Also Read: Ratan Tata passes away at 86, leaving behind a legacy of innovation

Meanwhile, Ratan Tata, chairman emeritus of Tata Sons, passed away on Wednesday, October 9, at the age of 86 in a Mumbai hospital, where he had been in critical condition. His demise will also put Tata Group stocks like Tata Motors, Tata Steel, Tata Technologies and Trent, among others in the spotlight today.

Earlier on Monday, stocks had slipped amid reports of his deteriorating health.

TCS Q2 results today

TCS Q2 results press conference has been cancelled due to Ratan Tata's death, though results will be released today.

India's largest information technology firm is expected to show a modest single-digit increase in both topline and bottomline compared to the September quarter of FY24.

Brokerages monitored by Business Standard predict an average revenue growth of 7.2 per cent year-on-year (Y-o-Y), reaching approximately Rs 63,993.2 crore. On a sequential basis, revenues are anticipated to rise by 2.8 per cent. In Q2FY24, TCS reported revenues of Rs 59,692 crore, while revenues for the June quarter of FY25 stood at Rs 62,229 crore. READ MORE

RBI's Monetary Policy Outcome

The Reserve Bank of India's Monetary Policy Committee maintained the repo rate at 6.5 per cent, marking the tenth consecutive term of no change. The RBI shifted its stance from 'withdrawal of accommodation' to 'neutral'.

Wall Street highlights

Wall Street saw gains on Wednesday, with both the S&P 500 and Dow Jones hitting record closing highs following the release of the Federal Reserve's meeting minutes and ahead of upcoming inflation data. 

The Fed's September minutes revealed that a majority of officials supported a substantial half-point rate cut, although there was consensus that this wouldn't dictate future rate cuts.

Consequently, Dow Jones ended 1.03 per cent higher, followed by S&P 500 (up 0.71 pe recent) and Nasdaq Composite (up 0.60 per cent)

Investors are awaiting the Consumer Price Index report due Thursday and the start of the third-quarter of calendar year 2024 corporate earnings season.

Asian market performance

Asia-Pacific markets opened mostly higher on Thursday, following gains on Wall Street. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 was up 0.5 per cent in early trading, while South Korea’s Kospi rose 0.2 per cent, though the small-cap Kosdaq dipped 0.2 per cent. 

Japan’s Nikkei 225 opened 0.5 per cent higher, with the broader Topix gaining 0.4 per cent. 

Traders are assessing September's producer price data from Japan, which rose 2.8 per cent year-on-year, surpassing expectations of 2.3 per cent. 

Additionally, attention remains on Chinese markets after the mainland CSI 300 fell 7.05 per cent on Wednesday, breaking a 10-day winning streak.

Geopolitical tensions

According to reports, US President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu discussed potential Israeli retaliation against Iran on Wednesday. 

Meanwhile, Lebanon's Hezbollah reported that its fighters successfully pushed back advancing Israeli forces along the border. 

Ground clashes are intensifying along southern Lebanon's mountainous frontier with Israel, occurring alongside the ongoing Gaza conflict and heightened tensions in the Middle East as the region awaits Israel's response to Iran's recent missile strike.

Other major triggers for today:

F&O weekly expiry

Investors will be closely watching the Nifty weekly contracts expiry today, as it remains a key driving factor in the market. 
 

Q2 earnings 
 

GM Breweries, Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency (Ireda), Anand Rathi, Arkade Developers, and Den Networks among 12 other companies are scheduled to release their Q2 results today.
 

Oil & Gold prices

US crude oil prices saw a dip following a recent rally driven by Middle East tensions. West Texas Intermediate was priced at $73.24 per barrel, down 0.45 per cent, while Brent crude fell to $76.58 per barrel, a decrease of 0.78 per cent. 

Gold prices also retreated for the sixth consecutive day, impacted by a stronger dollar and reduced expectations for a larger rate cut in November. Spot gold traded at $2,607.70 per ounce, down 0.5 per cent, while US gold futures were at $2,626.90 per ounce, reflecting a decline of 0.3 per cent.

IPO corner

Hyundai Motor Company plans to divest Rs 27,856 crore through the IPO of its domestic arm, Hyundai Motor India, aiming for India's largest IPO. The IPO will open from October 15 to 17. READ MORE

Additionally, Pranik Logistics Limited’s IPO (SME) opens today, while Garuda Construction & Engineering (Mainline) and Shiv Texchem Limited IPO (SME) will see their last day of subscription.

Market activity 

On October 09, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) continued their selling trend, offloading shares worth Rs 4,562.71 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) bought shares worth Rs 4,508.61 crore.

Previous session recap

On Wednesday, both the BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty50 retreated from early gains. The Sensex fell 167.71 points (0.21 per cent) to settle at 81,467.10, while the Nifty50 decreased 31.20 points (0.12 per cent) to close at 24,981.95.

Here's how analysts are assessing today's (October 10) trading session:

Shrikant Chouhan, Head of Equity Research, Kotak Securities

The current market texture is volatile hence level based trading would be the ideal strategy for the day traders. For the bulls now, the 50-day SMA or 25050/81700 would be the key level to watch out.  Above the same market could retest the level of 25200-25225/82000-82300. On the flip side, 24900/81200 would be the key support zone for the traders. Below the same, the selling pressure is likely to accelerate. Below the same, the market could slip till 24800-24780/81000-80700.

Nagaraj Shetti, Senior Technical Research Analyst at HDFC Securities

With steep intraday selloff from the highs of Wednesday, the market has not yet confirmed the significant bottom reversal pattern at the recent lows. A sustainable move only above 25200-25300 levels could confirm double bottom formation and that could possibly open doors for more upside. At the lower levels Nifty is expected to find strong support around the 24700-24600 zone. The short-term trend of Nifty is still positive, but the display of lack of strength in the present upside bounce is likely to result in further weakness near to recent lows, before showing another round of upmove. Immediate resistance to be watched at 25250. 

Hrishikesh Yedve, AVP Technical and Derivatives Research at Asit C. Mehta Investment Interrmediates Ltd

On the daily chart, the index formed a small red candle followed by an insider bar candlestick and is still holding above short-term trend line support. As long as the index holds above the low of 24,690, levels of 25,150–25,350 could be possible. However, a close below 24,690 could lead to a fresh breakdown.