Market Ahead Podcast, August 10: Top factors that could guide markets today

The benchmark indices eyed a lackluster start to the day as investors mulled how to position themselves with the markets hovering at all-time high levels and mixed global setup. Further, with the IPO market in full swing, the volume in the secondary markets could again remain subdued.

After the IPOs of CarTrade Tech and Nuvoco Vistas which opened for subscription on Monday, two new IPOs - one by Aptus Value Housing Finance and other by Chemplast Sanmar - will also kick off today.

Aptus Value Housing Finance's IPO is priced at Rs 346-353 per share and looks to raise Rs 2,780 crore at the upper end of the price band. The company garnered Rs 834 crore from anchor investors on Tuesday. Meanwhile, Chemplast Sanmar's Rs 3,850-crore IPO is priced in the range of Rs 530-541 a share. The company collected over Rs 1,732 crore from anchor investors on Monday. Meanwhile, the IPO of CarTrade Tech was subscribed 41 per cent at end of Day 1 and Nuvoco Vistas 16 per cent.

On the global market front, US stocks dropped from record highs amid concerns about pullback in stimulus and a resurgence in the fast-spreading delta virus variant. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.3 per cent and the S&P 500 lost 0.09 per cent. The Nasdaq Composite added 0.16 per cent.

In Asia, too, the stocks drifted. Topix index rose 1 per cent, Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 and Hang Seng Index added 0.2 per cent each. Meanwhile, Kospi index fell 0.6 per cent.

Amid this backdrop, SGX Nifty was trading 25 points down at 16,248 around 7.40, indicating a flat-to-negative start for Dalal Street.

That apart, focus will also remain on the commodity markets, as global gold prices continued to languish at multi-month lows, hurt by a rise in US dollar and raised bets of Federal Reserve tapering stimulus earlier than expected. Spot gold was little changed at $1,730.47 per ounce. Oil although stabilised after hitting three-week lows but the gains are likely to be limited with the virus concern still looming. Brent crude was up by 0.4 per cent at $69.34 a barrel after falling 2.3 per cent on Monday.

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

Zomato, Coal India, Lupin, Power Grid Corporation of India, Ashoka Buildcon, Deepak Fertilisers, Eveready Industries, KIMS, Max Financial Services, Motherson Sumi Systems and Whirlpool of India are among over 200 companies slated to post their quarterly earnings today.

Shree Cement posted Q1FY22 PAT at Rs 630 crore before adjustment, up by 90.7 per cent versus Rs 330 crore posted in the same quarter last year. The figure declined by 21 per cent versus Rs 798 crore reported at the end of March 2021 quarter. It also reported Rs 3,635 crore in consolidated operational revenues, which was 46 per cent more than Rs 2,487 crore in the corresponding quarter of 2020-21 .

Reliance New Energy Solar, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Reliance Industries, along with a few other investors, has announced an investment of $144 million in Ambri Inc, an energy storage company based in Massachusetts, USA.

The National Stock Exchange will include 10 stocks to the F&O segment with effect from August 27. These include Can Fin Homes, Dixon Technologies, Hindustan Aeronautics, Indian Energy Exchange, IndiaMART InterMESH, Ipca Lab, MCX, Oracle Financial, Polycab India and Syngene International.

The Securities Appellate Tribunal on Monday delivered a split verdict on the tussle between PNB Housing Finance and markets watchdog Sebi over the proposed Rs 4,000 crore investment by Carlyle Group, a development that will continue to keep the much-needed deal for the funds-starved lender in limbo.