The bourses opened on a positive note on Monday (August 2). The Sensex was 314.44 points or 0.60 percent up at 52,901.30 points tracking gains in index majors HDFC, Reliance Industries and Infosys amid a positive trend in global equities. The while the Nifty50 was while hovered around the 15,850-mark, up 92 points.
Titan was the top gainer in the Sensex pack, rising around 2 per cent, followed by Axis Bank, Bharti Airtel, HDFC, Maruti, Bajaj Finserv, Infosys and Reliance Industries.
On the other hand, Tech Mahindra, Sun Pharma, NTPC, PowerGrid and Dr Reddy’s were among the laggards.
In the previous session, Sensex slipped 66.23 points or 0.13 per cent to close at 52,586.84, while the broader NSE Nifty dipped 15.40 points or 0.10 per cent to 15,763.05.
Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) were net sellers in the capital market as they offloaded shares worth Rs 3,848.31 crore on Friday, as per provisional exchange data.
"Barring financials, June quarter earnings so far have been encouraging and most companies succeeded to beat consensus estimates, which offered comfort and aided to restrict sharp fall despite selling pressure in global equities," said Binod Modi Head-Strategy at Reliance Securities, PTI said.
Further, persistent soft monetary policy stance of Federal Reserve along with least possibility of any reversal of monthly bond buying in the near to medium term and recent softening of dollar index augur well for emerging markets including India, Modi added.
Asian markets mixed
Bourses in Shanghai, Seoul, Tokyo and Hong Kong were trading with significant gains in mid-session deals.
China's woes were underlined over the weekend by a survey showing factory activity grew at the slowest pace in 17 months amid rising costs and extreme weather. Japan's Nikkei bounced back 1.1 percent but that was from its lowest since January.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was a just fraction firmer early Monday, having hit its low for the year so far last week. Asian markets were largely mixed.
US stock indexes closed lower Friday, posting a weekly loss to close out the month, with renewed concerns about a rise of cases of the delta variant COVID-19 and disappointing results from Amazon.com partly blamed for the slump. But the benchmark S&P 500 index has posted gains for six straight months, its longest winning streak since 2018, and is only 0.6% off its record high set last Monday
For the week, the Dow and S&P 500 each declined 0.4 percent while the Nasdaq slid 1.1 percent. All three indexes were up for July, with Dow showing a 1.3 percent monthly gain, the S&P 500 rising 2.3 percent and the Nasdaq up 1.2% for the month.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng marked its worst weekly decline since February and its steepest monthly drop since October of 2018.
For the month, the US 10-year yield is down 20.4 basis points, the 30 year yield was down 16.9 basis points, and the 2-year was off 5.9 basis points. It was the largest one-month decline in yield for the 2-year and 10-year since March 2020.
The US Federal Reserve’s preferred U.S. inflation measure - PCE index rose sharply again in June and the increase over the past year remained at a 13-year high, raising the cost of living for consumers and casting a shadow over a strong economic recovery.
A final reading of the University of Michigan’s consumer-sentiment index fell to 81.2 in July from a reading of 85.5 in June, though it exceeded the initial July figure of 80.8. Economists had expected a reading of 80.5, according to a Wall Street Journal survey.
Quarterly results today
HDFC, Punjab National Bank, Emami, Ajmera Realty & Infra, Balaji Amines, Carborundum Universal, Castrol India, CG Power and Industrial Solutions, Nahar Spinning Mills, Orient Cement, RBL Bank, Shree Renuka Sugars, and Varun Beverages will release quarterly earnings on August 2.
Fuel prices unchanged
Oil marketing companies (OMC) kept petrol and diesel prices unchanged for the 16th straight day on Monday.
In the national capital, petrol continued to be sold for Rs 101.84 per litre, while diesel was being sold at the unchanged rate of Rs 89.87 a litre on Monday.
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 the 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.
Fuel prices differ from state to state depending on the incidence of local taxes such as VAT and freight charges. Rajasthan levies the highest value-added tax (VAT) on petrol in the country, followed by Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra.
Petrol and diesel prices have been static since July 18. It last increased on July 17 with petrol being revised upwards by 30 paisa per litre, while diesel prices remained unchanged.
International oil benchmark Brent crude declined 1.14 per cent to $74.55 per barrel.
