Market Ahead, Aug 7: Top factors that could guide markets today

The SGX Nifty is indicating a flat start at around 11,200 levels for the Indian indices today amid mixed global cues. Shares on Wall Street shrugged off a sluggish start and closed higher overnight as investors hoped for a new fiscal stimulus package. Overall, both the Dow Jones and the S&P500 gained 0.6 per cent each while the Nasdaq added 1 per cent as the tech-heavy index ended the session above 11,000 for the first time. 

Asia shares were mixed in Friday's early deals. Hong Kong was down 0.45 per cent Nikkei was down 0.3 per cent while Kospi wa sup 0.33 per cent.

Besides global cues, investors will today focus on corporate results, and other stock-specific action. Midcaps are likely to be the flavour of the day as the circuit filters of more than 600 companies including the likes of avenue Supermarts, PNB Housing Finance, Spice Jet, and Nelco have been revised upwards.

On the Covid-19 front, India saw the record single-day spike of 62,170 cases on Thursday, thereby taking the total number of cases to 20.24 lakh, according to Worldometer. Death toll stands at 41,638.

Vodafone Idea yesterday reported a sharp rise in its losses to Rs 25,460 crore for the June quarter of FY21 due to high provisioning for statutory dues. The company's losses stood at about Rs 4,874 crore in the year-ago period. The revenue from operations came in at Rs 10,659.3 crore for the quarter. The company said it has recognized additional charge of Rs 19,440.5 crore in the quarter towards AGR liabilities.

HPCL yesterday reported a 157 per cent jump in its June quarter net profit on the back of inventory gains and better than industry performance. Consolidated profit of Rs 2,253 crore was 157 per cent higher on a YoY basis. The sales though fell to Rs 45,945 crore in the first quarter from Rs 74,595.64 crore a year back.

Today, a total of 96 companies, including Mahindra & Mahindra, Cipla, Abbott India, and Cipla, are scheduled to report their quarterly earnings today.

Moreover, Mindspace Business Parks REIT is all set to debut on the bourses today. The final issue price has been fixed at Rs 275 per share, the upper end of price band of Rs 274-275. The Rs 4,500-crore IPO was subscribed 13 times during July 27-29.