Investors can expect a volatile session today ahead of the monthly derivative expiry tomorrow. Besides, a weak set of global cues and corporate results will be the main focus for investors today.
Stocks on Wall Street closed little changed overnight on disappointing earnings and little hope for a US coronavirus stimulus before Election Day. The Dow fell 0.8 per cent and the S&P 500 lost 0.3 per cent. Although, the Nasdaq added 0.64 per cent ahead of big technology company results.
Asian markets were also weak in Wednesday's early deals. Australia's ASX 200 was flat, while Japan's Nikkei and Hong Kong's main index slipped 0.4 per cent, each.
Consequently, the SGX Nifty was trading 33 points lower at 11,854 levels, indicating a negative start for the domestic indices today.
Market participants will first react to the corporate results announced after market hours yesterday.
Telecom operator Bharti Airtel reported substantial narrowing of losses for the second quarter ended September 2020 at Rs 763 crore. The losses were significantly lower than Q2FY20, when it stood at Rs 23,045 crore. The company's revenues rose 22 per cent year-on-year at Rs 25,785 crore.
Meanwhile, Tata Motors’ consolidated loss for the quarter more than doubled over the year-ago period at Rs 307 crore. But a better geographic mix and a higher contribution by the expensive models to the overall sales helped it beat Street estimates.
A total of 70 companies including L&T, Axis Bank, and Hero MotoCorp are scheduled to announce their September quarter earnings today.
Analysts expect L&T to post muted numbers for the quarter though the strong contribution of its service business is likely to moderate the impact. Meanwhile, brokerages expect Hero MotoCorp to report up to 13 per cent increase in profit while revenues are expected to rise over 20 per cent, led by volume growth and increase in realisation.
Hero MotoCorp and Harley-Davidson yesterday announced a wide ranging partnership for the Indian market, days after the US cult bike manufacturer announced its exit from the country. As part of the deal, Hero MotoCorp will develop and sell a range of premium motorcycles under the Harley-Davidson brand name in the country.
Apart from these, investors will track the assembly elections in Bihar, where the first phase of voting begins today, as well as the Covid trend.
The rate of growth in India's Covid cases continued to slow down on Tuesday, with the total caseload now at 79.88 lakh, while there have been 1.2 lakh deaths till now.
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