Market Ahead, July 24: All you need to know before the opening bell

The Indian markets are likely to open on a slightly negative note today as the SGX Nifty is trading 40 odd points lower at 11,176 levels amid a somber mood in the global markets.

Wall Street dropped sharply overnight as investors fled tech shares amid worsening pandemic, higher US jobless claims and mixed corporate earnings. The Dow Jones fell 1.3 per cent, the S&P 500 lost 1.23 per cent, and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 2.3 per cent.

Asian markets also dropped on Friday. Australian ASX 200 lost 1 per cent in early trading and South Korea's Kospi was also down 0.1 per cent. 

In commodities, Brent crude was last trading 0.3 per cent higher at $43.43 a barrel.

On the results front, Biocon yesterday posted a net profit decline of 26 per cent on YoY basis to Rs 167.8 crore. The company’s revenue, however, saw a double-digit growth of 13.9 per cent YoY driven by growth in biosimilars and generics segments.

Today, a total of 71 companies including ITC, Asian Paints, and Ambuja Cements are scheduled to announce their quarterly results. For ITC, a steep decline in its cigarette and hotel businesses due to the disruptions caused by the Covid-19 pandemic is expected to dent the June quarter earnings.

Meanwhile, India witnessed a record spike of over 48,000 in the count of new coronavirus cases in the past 24 hours, taking its tally to 12.88 lakh. India's Covid-19 death toll rose to 30,645.

And, now a quick look at other top news.

According to media reports, Amazon is in talks to buy a 9.9 per cent stake in the retail arm of Reliance Industries. The report said that Amazon wants a preferred, strategic stake in Reliance Retail for JioMart.

The Centre yesterday amended its General Financial Rules to restrict public procurement from countries which share a land border with India on grounds of national security, a move squarely aimed at China. According to the new order, any bidder from countries sharing a land border with India will be eligible to bid in any procurement only if the bidder is registered with the Registration Committee constituted by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade. 

The RBI has asked HDFC Bank to provide details of an internal investigation into allegations of improper lending practices in its vehicle-financing operation, sources have told Business Standard. The RBI is also seeking information on steps taken by HDFC Bank to remedy any issues identified during the investigation.

Axis Bank and Max Financial Services will make changes to certain options that were agreed upon earlier this year for the lender to hike stake in Max Life Insurance, following a correspondence from regulator Irdai. Specific details about the changes were not disclosed.

Read by Kanishka Gupta