BSE Auto index rose 1 percent led by the Tube Investments of India, Eicher Motors, TVS Motors
ICICI Prudential Life sells 2% stake in Westlife Development
ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Company Limited informed via a stock exchange filing on July 5 that it has sold 2.02 percent of its stake in Westlife Development Limited, bringing the company’s shareholding in it down from 7.15 percent to 5.13 percent.
ICICI Prudential clarified in the exchange filing that it is not a related party transaction and has been undertaken on the stock exchange.
V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services:
There are lots of signals from markets: Brent crude crashed to near $100 a barrel, dollar index rose above 106, rupee again depreciated to an all-time low, euro is at 20-year low to the dollar and, perhaps most importantly from Indian market perspective, FIIs turned buyers after a long gap.
While crude crash along with corrections in other commodities like metals is a bearish signal indicating increasing possibility of recession in the US, commodity crash is positive for the Indian economy and FIIs turning buyers is a bullish signal for Indian equity market.
It is important to watch whether these signals are one offs or will they sustain.
With valuations reaching fair levels, investors can buy high-quality stocks in a calibrated manner. Stocks that FPIs sell like financials and IT are good segments to bet now.
Gainers and Losers on the BSE Sensex in the early trade:
Market Opens: Indian indices opened higher on July 6 amid mixed global cues.
At 09:16 IST, the Sensex was up 282.28 points or 0.53% at 53416.63, and the Nifty was up 61.30 points or 0.39% at 15872.20. About 1105 shares have advanced, 527 shares declined, and 101 shares are unchanged.
Asian Paints, BPCL, Bajaj Finance, L&T and Axis Bank were among major gainers on the Nifty, while losers were ONGC, Hindalco, Tata Steel, JSW Steel and Coal India.
Prashanth Tapse, Vice President (Research), Mehta Equities:
Domestic equities may see gap-up opening thanks to overnight gains in the US markets and subsequent uptick in SGX Nifty. However, correction in other Asian gauges could halt the upmove, while the rupee hitting its all-time low, stubborn inflation and tight monetary policies are indicating more downside risk for Nifty.
While the market sentiment continues to be bearish, investors will be closely watching the Minutes of the Fed’s June policy meeting, which will be published later today, as this could provide some insight into the Fed’s thinking on growth and inflation.
Technical indicators accelerate towards south with immediate support for Nifty at 15503 and then at 15183.
ICICI Direct
Indian markets are likely to open on a positive note today shrugging off weakness across other Asian markets on the back of a mixed session on Wall Street overnight.
US markets ended mixed on the back of release of macroeconomic data and mixed news inflows.
Rupee Opens:
Indian rupee opened 14 paise higher at 79.23 per dollar on Wednesday against previous close of 79.37.
Market at pre-open: Benchmark indices are trading flat in the pre-opening session.
At 09:01 IST, the Sensex was up 62.52 points or 0.12% at 53196.87, and the Nifty was down 140.40 points or 0.89% at 15670.50.
Sugandha Sachdeva, Vice President – Commodity and Currency Research, Religare Broking:
The Indian rupee has slumped to a new record low of 79.37 mark against the dollar, depreciating by around 0.50% on the back of a rise in the dollar index towards a new twenty-decade peak. Besides, heavy portfolio outflows, soaring crude oil prices, and a rising interest rate regime of the major central banks have been the key catalysts behind this recent bout of weakness in the rupee-dollar exchange rate.
On the domestic front, India’s trade deficit has swelled to a record high of $25.63bln in June amid high commodity prices, leading to a rise in the import bills.
Besides, the current account deficit is expected to widen to around 2.9% of GDP in FY23 as against 1.2% in FY22, which is weighing on the domestic currency. Moving ahead, we foresee the Indian rupee heading lower towards the 80-81 zone against the dollar, though the RBI is expected to proactively intervene in the markets to curb the pace of decline in the domestic currency.
Morning Scan: All the big stories to get you started for the day
A round-up of the biggest articles from newspapers
Asian stocks slide, dollar shines as recession fears deepen
Asian stocks slipped and the dollar stood by a two-decade high on the euro on Wednesday as investors’ fears deepened that the continent is leading the world into recession, while oil and European equity futures attempted to steady after a slide.
Brent crude futures bounced 1.4% in morning trade to $104.18 a barrel, nursing its wounds after a 9.5% drop to a 2-1/2 month low on Tuesday with worries that a global growth slowdown is going to sap demand. [O/R]
MSCI’s index of Asia-Pacific stocks outside Japan fell 0.6%. Japan’s Nikkei fell 0.88%, on course for its first loss of the week. S&P 500 futures fell 0.2%, though Euro STOXX 50 futures bounced 1.8%.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index was down 0.42% while Chinese blue chips fell 0.7%, dragged by worries about new COVID-19 cases in Shanghai risking fresh restrictions.
