Indian equity benchmarks are slated to continue their losing streak on Monday, tracking weak cues from Asian stocks as well as Wall Street, as investors shifted focus to safe heaven assets ahead of the U.S. Federal Reserve meeting this week. The negative trends on SGX Nifty also indicated a gap-down opening for the domestic bourses, with SGX Nifty futures trading 150 points, or 0.85%, lower at 17,487 on the Singapore Stock Exchange at 8:05 AM.
The equity market will witness volatility in this holiday-shortened week ahead of the highly-anticipated Union Budget 2022 lined up next week. The key factors that will impact trade this week include global trends, quarterly earnings numbers, foreign fund flows, and monthly derivatives expiry.
Last week, the Indian benchmark indices ended lower for four out of five sessions amid a sell-off in global equities in anticipation of interest rate hikes by the US Federal Reserve. The BSE Sensex had plunged 2,271 points over the last four sessions, while the Nifty50 declined 689 points during this period. Investors were left poorer by ₹10.17 lakh crore in a four-day share fall on Dalal Street, with the market capitalisation (m-cap) of BSE-listed companies slipping to ₹ 269.85 lakh crore from Monday's ₹280 lakh crore mark. On Friday, the 30-share BSE Sensex dropped 427 points or 0.72% to close at 59037, while the broader NSE Nifty settled 139 points or 0.79% lower at 17,617. The top five losers on the Sensex pack were Bajaj Finserv, Tech Mahindra, Tata Steel, Bharti Airtel, and IndusInd Bank, which declined in the range of 2.8% to 5.4%.
Stocks to watch
Reliance Industries: Shares of Mukesh Ambani-led firm will be in focus today after the oil-to-telecom conglomerate reported 37.9% year-on-year growth in net profit at ₹20,539 crore for the third quarter of FY22, driven by broad-based growth across all business verticals. The gross revenue increased by 52.2% to ₹209,823 crore. The earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) was ₹33,886 crore, higher by 29.9%.
Bandhan Bank: The private lender posted 36% year-on-year growth in net profit at ₹859 crore in the October-December quarter compared with ₹632.6 crore in the year-ago period. The bank’s gross non-performing assets (NPAs) surged significantly to 10.81% (₹9,441.6 crore) of gross advances in the quarter ended December compared with 1.1% in the year-ago period. Gross NPAs stood at 10.82% (₹8,763.6 crore) in the quarter ended September.
ICICI Bank: The private bank has reported over 25% growth in net profit for the December quarter, aided by lower provisioning and higher net interest income. The net profit surged to ₹6,193.81 crore in Q3FY22, from ₹4,939.59 crore in the same quarter of the corresponding year.
YES Bank: The private sector lender on Saturday reported 77% YoY surge in consolidated net profit at ₹266 crore for the third quarter ending December 31, 2021, the highest since December 2018. However, total income dropped to ₹5,632.03 crore from ₹6,408.53 crore in the same period last fiscal.
Vodafone Idea: The cash-strapped telecom firm saw its consolidated loss widening to Rs 7,230.9 crore for the third quarter ended December 2021, compared to a loss Rs 4,532.1 crore in the same period a year ago.
SBI Life Insurance: The private sector insurer posted a 56% jump in net profit at Rs 364 crore for the third quarter ended December, as against Rs 233 crore in the same quarter of the previous fiscal.
IDBI Bank: The LIC-owned lender registered a 53% YoY rise in profit after tax (PAT) at Rs 578 crore for the quarter ended December, driven by healthy growth in net interest income.
Stocks under F&O ban: Shares of BHEL, Escorts, Indiabulls Housing Finance, Vodafone Idea, and NALCO will be under the F&O ban on the NSE for January 24. The exchange imposes ban on stocks under the F&O segment when they cross 95% of the market-wide position limit.
Axis Bank, SBI Cards: Private sector lender Axis Bank, credit card service provider SBI Cards and Payment Services, asset management company HDFC Asset Management are among several companies that will release their December quarter results today.
Here are the key things investors should know before the market opens today:
Wall Street tumbles as Fed rate hike looms
On Friday, all the three major U.S. indices closed lower as investors’ appetite for riskier assets declined amid looming fear that the Federal Reserve meeting may turn hawkish to tame inflation which touched a 40-year high last month. There is speculation in the market that the U.S. Fed may hike interest rates as many as four times this year to control rising inflation. On Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 1.3%, the S&P 500 fell 1.9%, and the Nasdaq Composite tumbled 2.7% on Friday.
Investors will keep a close eye on Federal Reserve’s policy meeting this week for more clarity on the central bank’s plan to raise interest rates.
Asian shares bleed in red as global markets slump
Shares in the Asia-Pacific region dropped in early trading, following a negative finish on Wall Street on Friday, amid concerns about inflation and policy tightening by the US Federal Reserve. The uncertainty around the quantum of a rate hike by the US Fed also triggered a sell-off in the regional market.
The Japanese stock market traded lower in early trade, with the benchmark Nikkei 225 falling 0.6% following negative cues from Wall Street. The concerns about the fast spread of the coronavirus omicron variant in the country also weighed on investor sentiments.
China mainland shares also fell in early deals, with the Shenzhen component and the Shanghai composite slipping 0.15% and 0.5%, respectively.
South Korea’s KOSPI emerged as the worst performer in the region by crashing nearly 1.8%, while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong tumbled 1.1%. Australia’s ASX 200 index also shed 0.4%.
In a similar trend, Indonesia’s Jakarta Composite, Thailand’s SET Composite, and the Straits Times Index in Singapore traded lower with marginal losses.
Corporate earnings
The big companies that will announce their December quarter results today include Axis Bank, HDFC Asset Management, Deepak Nitrite, SBI Cards and Payment Services, Indian Energy Exchange, Apollo Pipes, Hindustan Fluorocarbons, and others.
Among others, Apollo Tricoat Tubes, Burger King India, Cera Sanitaryware, Chennai Petroleum Corporation, Craftsman Automation, Greenpanel Industries, GRM Overseas, IIFL Securities, Kirloskar Ferrous Industries, Mahindra EPC Irrigation, Meghmani Finechem, Quick Heal Technologies, Music Broadcast, The Ramco Cements, Reliance Home Finance, Shemaroo Entertainment, Shiva Cement, Shriram Transport Finance, Steel Strips Wheels, Sudarshan Chemical Industries, Supreme Industries, and Zensar Technologies, will also release their earnings report on January 24.
FIIs remain net sellers, DIIs turn net buyers
Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) continued to remain net sellers in the Indian equity market on January 21, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) turned net buyers. As per the data available on the NSE, FIIs offloaded sold shares worth ₹3,148.5 crore, while DIIs net bought shares worth ₹269.3 crore.
