Market Ahead Podcast, April 29: Top factors that could guide markets today

Supported by the US Fed decision to keep policy loose and firm global markets cues, benchmark indices eyed a gap-up start to Thursday's trade with SGX Nifty ruling 138 points higher at 14,983 around 7.40 am.

Besides, strong earnings reports from top Indian companies also supported the sentiment on the Street at the time when India continues to reel from the coronavirus pandemic. India in the last 24 hours reported a massive surge of 379,459 cases and 3,647 deaths, thus marking it the biggest single-day spike ever.

Meanwhile, volatility could mark the session on account of the April f&o expiry.

In global markets, Wall Street ended lower on Wednesday after the US Federal Reserve held interest rates and its monthly bond-buying program steady and gave no sign it was ready to reduce its support for the recovery.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.48%, the S&P 500 lost 0.08% and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 0.28%.

In early trade today, US equity futures extended gains sparked by robust earnings from technology heavyweights and Asian stocks were steady Thursday as President Joe Biden laid out a $1.8 trillion social-support plan. Investors in the meantime will also keep an eye out for the US GDP data slated to be out today.

S&P 500 futures rose 0.5%, Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index rose 0.2%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index climbed 0.7% and South Korea’s Kospi Index rose 0.1%.

Now, a look at the stock-specific triggers that are likely to guide the market today

HUL, Bajaj Auto, Titan, Ambuja Cements, Inox Leisure, Bank of Maharashtra and Rain Industries are among 36 companies slated to post their March quarter results today.

Analysts expect HUL to post high double-digit growth in both net profit and revenues of the company on a yearly basis, supported by a lower base and improved traction in the out of home (OOH) and personal care segments.

Bajaj Auto is expected to post a solid growth in revenue and sales volume. However, the company’s Ebitda margin could come under pressure due to higher commodity prices and lower product mix on a quarterly basis, say analysts.

Billionaire Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries is reported to have held talks with Saudi Aramco on a cash and share deal for sale of a 20 per cent stake in its oil refining and petrochemical arm.

Shares of asset management companies are likely to be in focus after Sebi directed the mutual fund (MF) industry that a fifth of the salary of top executives be paid in form of units of mutual fund schemes they oversee.

Lastly, in the IPO market, PowerGrid Infrastructure Investment Trust's initial public offer will open for subscription today. The company has fixed a price band of Rs 99-100 per unit for its Rs 7,735 crore IPO. It raised a little over Rs 3,480 crore from anchor investors ahead of the IPO offer.