The stock market indices opened lower on May 2, first day of trading in the new week. At 09:16 AM, the Sensex was down 483.39 points or 0.85 percent at 56,577.48. The broader Nifty was down 144.70 points or 0.85 percent at 16957.80. About 786 shares have advanced, 1425 shares declined, and 118 shares are unchanged.
Amid top losers at the opening bell on the Nifty were Hero MotoCorp, Infosys, Tech Mahindra, ONGC and Bajaj Finance. Top gainers were IndusInd Bank, Axis Bank, Tata Motors and Power Grid Corp.
Stocks to watch out for
Some stock-specific actions can be witnessed in stocks such as Wipro, IndusInd Bank, SBI Cards, Tata Chemicals, Tanla Platforms as all these companies posted their earnings post market hours. Earnings for today include Adani Wilmar, Jindal Stainless, INOX Leisure, IDBI Bank, HDFC, Castrol India, Britannia Industries etc.
US indices close lower for fourth consecutive week
US Indexes endured a fourth consecutive week of losses, as growth fears were compounded by some disappointing earnings results from Amazon.com.
Shares of Amazon and Google parent Alphabet just closed out their steepest monthly drops since the 2008 financial crisis.
The Dow and S&P 500 index suffered their worst April performance since 1970. The NASDAQ trailed the S&P 500 and the Dow again and entered a bear market, having lost 23% since its record high on November 19, 2021.
The Fed is likely to confirm its hawkish stance on Wednesday by hiking rates 0.5 percent for the first time since 2000, and also formally launch the shrinking of its bond holdings, the so-called quantitative tightening.
European activity continues to be threatened by the ongoing war in Ukraine, pandemic lockdowns in China are weighing on the country's growth, and the U.S. economic momentum is slowing.
Colombia's central bank board raised the benchmark interest rate by an expected 100 basis points to 6% on Friday, the highest in nearly five years, as it continues hikes to stifle persistent inflation pressures.
India's eight core sectors growth declines
India's eight core sectors grew by 4.3 percent in March, down from 6 percent in February, the commerce ministry said on April 29.
According to official data released on Friday, the core sector clocked a 10.4 percent expansion for full FY21-22. The eight core infrastructure sectors -- coal, crude oil, natural gas, refinery products, fertiliser, steel, cement, and electricity -- had expanded by 6 percent in February.
Among the laggards were coal and crude oil. Production of coal in March was down a marginal 0.1 percent compared to the corresponding period last year. However, crude oil output fell by a larger 3.4 percent on a year-on-year basis.
GST revenues at all-time high of Rs 1.68 lakh cr in April
The GST collection in April touched the highest ever level of about Rs 1.68 lakh crore, up 20 percent from the year-ago period, on improved compliance and recovery in business activity, the Finance Ministry said on Sunday. During the month, 1.06 crore GST returns from GSTR-3B were filed, of which 97 lakh pertained to March 2022.
The gross GST revenue collected in April is Rs 1,67,540 crore, of which CGSTis Rs 33,159 crore, SGST Rs 41,793 crore, IGST Rs 81,939 crore (including Rs 36,705 crore collected on import of goods), and cess Rs 10,649 crore (including Rs 857 crore collected on import of goods), the ministry said. The gross GST collection in April 2022 is an all-time high and Rs 25,000 crore more than the previous highest collection of Rs 1.42 lakh crore recorded in March. In April last year, the mop-up from Goods and Services Tax (GST) was about Rs 1.40 lakh crore.
Crude oil decline
On Friday, crude oil futures declined and erasing all of its earlier gains in a volatile trading session. A late session sell-off in the U.S. stock market with a steep drop in U.S. heating oil futures were the catalysts behind the weak price action. The U.S. heating oil contract that plummeted by more than 20% at one point on the day of its expiration. On Friday, WTI crude oil settled at $104.69, down by 0.64% and Brent settled at $106.08 per barrel. Domestic markets were settled on a positive note at Rs 8,117 up by 1.00 percent
Rahul Kalantri, VP Commodities, Mehta Equities Ltd., said, Crude oil prices to remain volatile this week ahead of the US Federal Reserve policy meetings. Crude oil is having support at $101.30-$99.50 and resistance is at $105.90–107.40, In INR terms crude oil has support at Rs 7,860-7,740; while resistance is at Rs 8,185–8,320.
Gold, silver to remain volatile
On Friday, Gold price witnessed a decent correction to trade mildly below $1,900 after hitting a high of $1,920., while silver closed below its importance support level of $23. Gold prices remain dicey around $1,900 despite printing a three-day rebound from the lowest levels since February. Even so, cautious optimism in the markets underpins the yellow metal’s recovery moves as the US dollar remains under pressure around a multi-month high ahead of the key monetary policy meeting by the Fed, as well as April’s Nonfarm Payrolls. The corrective pullback in Gold Price could also be linked to Wall Street close that ended with heavy losses on Friday.
However, China’s holidays and downbeat PMIs for April join worsening COVID conditions in one of the world’s largest bullion consumers to challenge the gold price. Additionally testing the precious metal is the Ukraine-Russia crisis and global economic fears due to the supply-chain disruptions.
Rahul Kalantri, VP Commodities, Mehta Equities Ltd. said, "We expect gold and silver prices will remain volatile to negative in today’s session. Gold has support at $1884-1874, while resistance at $1907-1920. Silver has support at $22.55-22.40, while resistance is at $23.10-23.34. In INR terms gold has support at Rs 51,470–51,240, while resistance is at Rs 51,950–52,050. Silver has support at Rs 62,940-62,415, while resistance is at Rs 64,120–64,610."
USD-INR
USDINR 27 May futures contract showed high volatility last week and showed profit taking at higher levels. On the weekly technical chart, a pair is trading above its resistance level of 76.3500. RSI is fetching above 61levels and MACD is also showing positive divergence on the daily technical chart. As per the daily technical chart, we observed that a pair formed double top pattern on the weekly technical chart. Looking at the technical set-up, a pair only cross the levels of 77.20 could show further strength in the upcoming sessions else it could test its support level of 76.35 again. Rahul Kalantri, VP Commodities, Mehta Equities Ltd, "Looking at the technical set-up, a pair only cross the levels of 77.20 could show further strength in the upcoming sessions else it could test its support level of 76.35 again. We suggest closely watching the levels of 76.3500-77.2000 for taking any fresh positions in the pair".
Quarterly results
The following companies will release their quarterly earnings today: HDFC, Britannia Industries, Alembic Pharmaceuticals, Astec Lifesciences, Adani Wilmar, Castrol India, CG Power and Industrial Solutions, Devyani International, Dwarikesh Sugar Industries, EIH Associated Hotels, IDBI Bank, Inox Leisure, JBM Auto, Jindal Stainless, Mahindra & Mahindra Financial Services, Mahindra Holidays & Resorts India, Meghmani Organics, NGL Fine-Chem, Olectra Greentech, Saregama India, Shakti Pumps (India), and Surana Solar.
(With inputs from Reuters, Agencies)
