Market Ahead, July 31: Top factors that could guide markets today

The June quarter results by Reliance Industries will be a major focus in the markets today. Besides, investors will also react to global cues, Covid-19 trends and other corporate results.

Reliance Industries reported about 31 per cent rise in Q1 net profit at Rs 13,233 crore, beating Street estimates. Its profit was aided by an exceptional gain of Rs 4,966 crore arising out of the sale of partial stake in the fuel retail business to BP Global Investments, as well as rise in other income. Net sales in the June quarter fell 44 per cent YoY to Rs 88,253 crore -- the lowest level since the June 2017 quarter as the pandemic and the ensuing lockdowns hit the energy and retail businesses in Q1.

Reliance Jio's pre-tax profit surged almost 147 per cent on a YoY basis to Rs 3,375 crore in the June quarter. Revenue rose 33.7 per cent driven by a tariff hike undertaken last December. Limited customer churn and customer recharges during the lockdown also played a part.

Today, a total of 576 companies including State Bank of India, Tata Motors, Sun Pharmaceutical Industries, Indian Oil Corporation are scheduled to announce their quarterly results.

For SBI, stake sale gain from SBI Life during the June quarter may be the only saving grace as analysts see the bank's business growth to be modest in Q1 amid declining interest income and lower net profit sequentially.

On the Covid front, India recorded 52,249 new cases in the past 24 hours, taking its total number of Covid-19-positive cases to 16.4 lakh, according to Worldometer. The country's death toll stood at 35,786.

Now, a quick look at some other top news.

India's FMCG market excluding e-commerce sales will see a flat growth for the current calendar year because of the nearly 18 per cent decline seen in the April-June period, market research agency Nielsen said on Thursday. This was the quarter that saw the full impact of the nationwide lockdown that kicked in from March 25.

State-owned insurance behemoth LIC clocked 12.42 per cent growth in FY20 in total premium income at Rs 3.79 trillion, compared to Rs 3.37 trillion in FY19. The insurer’s new business premium was up 25.17 per cent in FY20 to Rs 1.77 trillion.

In the end, let's look at the global cues for the day.

The SGX Nifty is indicating a green start for the Indian markets today. Globally, US equities dipped overnight after US economy recorded a worst quarterly plunge ever of 33 per cent annualized rate in the June quarter, which is when the viral outbreak shut down businesses. However, the quarterly earnings report by the big tech quartet of Apple, Amazon, Facebook, and Alphabet, helped soften the blow. Overall, the Dow Jones fell 0.85 per cent, the S&P 500 lost 0.38 per cent, and the Nasdaq added 0.43 per cent.

Asian equities slid in Friday's early deals. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index rose 0.3 per cent. Australian ASX 200 index lost 1.4 per cent, while Japan's Nikkei also slipped 1.4 per cent.

In commodity markets, Brent crude was trading at $43.34 a barrel.

Read by Kanishka Gupta