Flat opening seen for Sensex, Nifty; Tata Motors, Wipro, Delta Corp, Dr Reddy's shares in focus

The Indian equity benchmarks, the BSE Sensex and the NSE Nifty, are likely to see a muted opening on Friday, tracking mixed trends in Asia and a negative finish on Wall Street overnight following interest rate hike in Europe. Traders also kept an eye on the monetary policy announcement by the Bank of Japan slated to be released later today. The subdued trends on SGX Nifty also indicated a flat opening for the domestic bourses, with SGX Nifty futures trading 20 points, or 0.14%, higher at 15,329 on the Singapore Stock Exchange at 8:15 AM.

On Thursday, the Indian benchmark indices plunged to a fresh 52-week low as bourses continued their losing streak for the fifth straight session. The BSE benchmark dived 1,046 points, or 1.99%, to settle at 51,496, following bearish cues from global peers after the US Federal Reserve hiked rates by 75 basis points. Similarly, the NSE Nifty plunged 332 points, or 2.11% to close at 15,361. Barring Nestle India, all stocks from the Sensex pack closed in negative terrain, led by Tata Steel, Tech Mahindra, IndusInd Bank, Wipro, Bharti Airtel, Bajaj Finance, Kotak Mahindra Bank, and NTPC. On the sectoral front, all indices ended in the red, with the metal index declining the most, down over 5%. Midcap and smallcap indices also ended deep in the red.

Stocks to watch

Tata Motors: The auto major, in its annual report, has expressed concerns that supply disruptions and dealership closures due to Covid-19 lockdowns in China could impact its financial performance in the ongoing fiscal. It also pointed out that risk factors stemming from the Russia-Ukraine war and semiconductor shortage could hinder supply chains and affect business.

Delta Corp: The company has decided to sell stake in the proposed IPO of its wholly-owned subsidiary Deltatech Gaming, which aims to raise ₹250 crore by the public offer.

Wipro: The IT major has signed a deal with Eros Investments to evolve and scale the artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML)-based content localisation solution.

Dr Reddy's Laboratories: The insurance major Life Insurance Corporation of India has acquired an additional 2% stake in the drug maker via open market transactions. With this, LIC's shareholding in the company rose to 5.65%, up from 3.64% earlier.

Vakrangee: The company has inked an agreement with Decathlon Sports India, a world leader in sports equipment, to sell its sports equipments in Tier-4 and 6 towns.

RITES: The company has won a business for operation and maintenance of 20 numbers of shunting locomotives from Container Corporation of India for ₹364.56 crore.

Delta Corp, RBL Bank, Indiabulls Housing Finance: These three stocks will continue to remain under the NSE F&O ban today as their scrip crossed 95% of the market-wide position limit.

Here are the key things investors should know before the market opens today:

Wall Street falls amid recession fears

In the overnight trade, all three major U.S. indices ended sharply lower, reversing previous session rally after the Federal Reserve raised its official interest rates by 75 percentage points, amid renewed fears about a recession. The S&P 500 index registered its sixth losses in seven trading sessions, after the United Kingdom, Switzerland, and Hungary hiked interest rate, raising fresh concerns that aggressive monetary policy tightening would push global economies into recession.

A slew of investment banks have warned of the risk of a recession, including JP Morgan, Wells Fargo, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, and Deutsche Bank.

The S&P 500 index ended 3.3% lower, while the Dow Jones index lost 2.4%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite dropped 4.1%, registering its fifth single-day fall of 4% or more since May.

Asian stocks fall

Shares in the Asia-Pacific region opened lower on Friday, tracking a negative finish on Wall Street overnight as a rate hike by central banks in Europe triggers recession concerns. Investors also remained on edge ahead of policy announcements by the Bank of Japan.

Regional heavyweight Japan’s Nikkei 225 was the worst performer in the regional market with a 2.1% loss as caution prevailed in the market ahead of policy rates. South Korea’s KOSPI dropped 1.2%, Indonesia’s Jakarta Composite slipped 1.3%. Australia’s ASX 200 was also down 2%, while Taiwan Weighted tumbled 1.2%.

Bucking the trend, the Straits Times Index in Singapore was up 0.1% and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 0.7%.

In mainland China, the Shenzhen Component and the Shanghai Composite rose 0.4% and 0.1%, respectively, in early trade.

FIIs continue selling spree

The foreign institutional investors (FIIs) continued their selling spree in the Indian equity market on June 16, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) continued to support the market. As per the exchange data, FIIs net sold shares worth ₹3257.65 crore, while DIIs net purchased shares worth ₹1929.14 crore.