The stock markets opened negative on Monday (July 26), first day of trading week amidst negative global cues.
Sensex was down 150.83 points or 0.28 percent at 52,824.97 while Nifty declined 43.80 points or 0.28 percent at 15,812.25 points.
After slipping over 192.17 points lower, the 30-share BSE index pared some of its losses to trade 54.98 points or 0.10 percent lower at 52,920.82 in initial deals, while the broader NSE Nifty fell 11.55 points or 0.07 percent to 15,844.50.
Axis Bank was the top loser in the Sensex pack, shedding more than 1 percent, followed by Maruti, SBI, HDFC and ICICI Bank. Reliance was trading 0.41 percent lower.
On the other hand, ITC, Titan, Infosys, Sun Pharma, NTPC and Tata Steel were among the gainers.
In the previous session, Sensex ended 138.59 points or 0.26 per cent higher at 52,975.80, and Nifty advanced 32 points or 0.20 per cent to finish at 15,856.0.
Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) were net sellers in the capital market as they offloaded shares worth Rs 163.31 crore on Friday, as per provisional exchange data.
For the week, the Dow rose 1.1 percent, the S&P 500 climbed 2 percent and the Nasdaq advanced 2.8 percent. The last time the Dow fell at least 2 percent on a Monday and closed at a record on the Friday of that week was August 1991. The buy-the-dip mentality is still pretty alive and healthy.
The US composite output index fell to 59.7 in July from 63.7 a month earlier, a four-month low, reflecting a drop in the services index, though the manufacturing PMI rose to 63.1, a record for the series.
With about a quarter of the S&P 500 index companies now reported, profit growth for the second quarter is expected to be 76%, compared with the second quarter last year during the worst of the pandemic, the best growth since 2009.
Global equity funds recorded net outflows for the first time in six weeks in the week to July 21 as concerns over a resurgence of coronavirus cases worldwide prompted investors to move towards safer assets. According to Refinitiv Lipper data, global equity funds saw net outflows of $5.9 billion in the week, led by a $10.4 billion outflow from U.S. equity funds. Asian and European equity funds, however, saw net inflows of $2.8 billion and $0.6 billion respectively.
Asian shares struggle
Asian shares struggled to rally on Monday as super-strong US corporate earnings sucked funds out of emerging markets and into Wall Street, where recrods were falling almost daily. Japan's Nikkei bounced 1.6 percent in early trade, but that was off a seven-month low. South Korea has fared somewhat better hanks to deman for tech stocks but was little changed on Monday.
Quarterly results today
Axis Bank, Kotak Mahindra bank, Larsen & Toubro, Tata Motors, SBI Life Insurance Company, Vedanta, Alembic Pharmaceuticals, Apollo Pipes, Coromandel International, DLF, Glaxo Smith Kline Pharmaceuticals, Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers, Jindal Stainless, KPIT Technologies, M&M Financial Services, Navin Fluorine International, Phillips Carbon Black, Ramkrishna Forgings, Sun Pharma Advanced Research Company, Vakrangee, and Zensar Technologies will release their quarterly earnings today.
F&O ban
Cadila Healthcare, Canara Bank, Vodafone Idea, NALCO, and Sun TV Network ar uner the F&O ban today.
Fuel prices unchanged for 9th day
Prices of petrol and diesel were unchanged for the 9th consecutive day across the four metros on Monday. In Delhi, petrol continues to be sold for Rs 101.84 per litre, while diesel is also being sold at the unchanged price of Rs 89.87 a litre.
In Mumbai, where petrol prices crossed Rs 100-mark for the first time ever on May 29, the fuel price is at Rs 107.83 per litre. Diesel price in the city is also at Rs 97.45, the highest among metros.
In Chennai, petrol is priced at Rs 102.49 per litre while the price of diesel is Rs 94.39 per litre. The price of petrol in Kolkata is Rs 102.08 per litre while diesel is sold at Rs 93.02 per litre.
The stagnation in fuel price revision can be attributed to the global developments on oil production and rising US inventories which softened crude and product rates.
International crude prices declined around 10 per cent to $69 a barrel from a high of over $77 a barrel just a few weeks ago. Currently, the Brent crude is above $72 per barrel.
The oil marketing companies, however, stopped short of reducing the retail price of petrol and diesel as more time is required to study the oil price movement before any downward revision. Already, crude has firmed up in last few days and this could prevent decline in prices.
The over-a-week-long price pause comes after fuel prices increased on 41 days and remained unchanged on 44 days since May 1. The spikes took up petrol prices by Rs 11.44 per litre in Delhi, while diesel increased by Rs 9.14 per litre.
International oil benchmark Brent crude declined 0.51 per cent to $73.72 per barrel.
