Positive start likely on cheerful global cues; all eyes on RBI policy briefing

Today, the markets are likely to open in high spirits as India’s core sector posted a seven-month high growth of 6.7 per cent in June. Going ahead, investors would watch out for the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI’s) policy announcement later in the day. Other data to be watched today will be Nikkei Manufacturing PMI data for the month of July and auto companies will be in focus as they will report their sales figures. The SGX Nifty, which was trading with gains of about 24 points, indicated that Nifty could open near the magical mark of 11,400. The results of Apollo Tyres, Emami, Exide Industries, Pidilite Industries, Reliance Infrastructure and Tata Global Beverages are on due to be announced today.  

Most of the Asian markets are seen in a cheerful mood on Wednesday, taking cues from the positive session seen on the Wall Street, where investors cheered the possibility of trade talks restarting between the US and China. Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 Index has surged 0.51 per cent, Hong Kong stock market has jumped 0.50 per cent and China’s Shanghai Composite has gained 0.36 per cent. 

Back home, equity benchmarks once again settled at fresh closing highs on Tuesday with the BSE Sensex settling above the 37,600-mark and Nifty closing above the 11,350-mark. The start of the session was dull and the remaining part of the day was almost a photocopy of Monday’s session as the indices corrected marginally in the initial hours and then late buying helped the market to close at new highs. The index heavyweight Reliance Industries hit a new high and went on to become India’s most valued company in terms of market capitalisation overtaking Tata Consultancy Services. The broader indices ended on a cheerful note as well as they logged gains of 0.40 and 0.38 per cent, respectively. Talking about sectoral performance, it was a mixed day as Nifty Realty and Nifty IT emerged as top gainers and Nifty PSU Bank ended as the top loser.

The US stocks rallied on Tuesday. The optimism on Wall Street came following reports from the US media that American and Chinese representatives are in discussion to restart formal trade talks. As traders welcomed the possible restart of the US-China talks, the Dow Jones Industrial advanced 108 points to close at 25,415, the Nasdaq Composite ended up 42 points at 7,672 and the S&P 500 climbed 14 points to finish at 2,816. Going ahead, traders will keep a close eye on the US Federal Reserve’s money policy announcement.  

The European markets wrapped up the last trading session for the month of July with modest gains amid positive corporate earnings from companies like Credit Suisse and BP. Meanwhile, the economic data showed that euro economy grew at a slower pace in the second quarter as the Gross Domestic Product grew 0.3 per cent. The euro zone inflation rose to 2.1 per cent in July from 2 per cent in June, preliminary data from Eurostat showed on Tuesday. The DAX of Germany added 0.06 per cent; CAC 40 of France rose 0.37 per cent and UK’s FTSE 100 climbed 0.62 per cent.