The Indian markets are staring at a flat start to the day amid mixed global cues. At 7:30 AM, the SGX Nifty was trading at 11,283, up 4 points from Nifty futures' last close. In the US, the Dow Jones fell 0.3 per cent overnight, the S&P 500 gained 0.27 per cent, and the Nasdaq rose 1 per cent.
In Asia, Australian ASX 200 and Hong Kong's Hang Seng were trading flat with a positive bias in early deals while Japan's Nikkei tumbled 0.6 per cent. China’s central bank supplied $101 billion worth of liquidity to commercial lenders yesterday to help them manage upcoming government bond sales, while leaving the price of the money unchanged as the economy recovers.
Apart from the global cues, corporate results, and stock-specific developments is expected to be the flavour of the day.
A total of 36 companies including Hindustan Aeronautics, Zee Entertainment Enterprise are scheduled to announce their June quarter earnings today.
On the Covid-19 front, India recorded 54,288 new cases in the past 24 hours, taking its total past the 27 lakh-mark, according to Worldometer. With 880 fatalities reported on Monday, the country's death toll has surged to 51,925.
Investors will also track Sebi's meeting today with brokers and depositories to hear their views on the new margin and share pledging norms that will be effective from September 1. According to reports, brokers feel that the share depository system is not updated yet for the new regime.
And, in the end, a quick look at some key stock-specific developments today.
The Supreme Court yesterday asked the Union government whether Reliance Jio could be held liable to pay the AGR dues of Reliance Communications because Jio was sharing spectrum with it and earning revenue from it. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta told the court the Union government would support any decision it took to help recover the dues. The next hearing in the spectrum sharing case will be held tomorrow.
HDFC Bank will be in focus in today's session after US-based Rosen Law Firm said it plans to investigate potential securities claims against the bank following allegations of sharing "materially misleading business information" with investors. HDFC Bank said it was not aware of any lawsuit and prima facie it looked "frivolous". The HDFC Bank's ADRs, listed on the NYSE, fell by 2.83 per cent following the report.
The RBI has lifted the restrictions imposed on the remuneration of private lender Bandhan Bank’s MD & CEO, after the bank's promoter reduced its stake in the bank to 40 per cent earlier this month to meet the regulator’s ownership norms.
YES Bank is planning to enhance the pool of shares offered in the Employee Stock Option Plan to 22.5 crore from the present 7.5 crore, in order to incentivise and retain employees. Moreover, the private lender's proposal for the fixed remuneration for its MD and CEO has been approved by the RBI.
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