Market may be cautious
ahead of expiry; Maruti, Bharti eyed
The IHS Markit manufacturing PMI for January rose to 55.1, from 54.3 in December,
lifted by a surge in new orders. Existing home sales fell 2.8 percent in
December for the US.
The President signed orders smoothing the path for the controversial
Keystone XL and Dakota access oil pipelines in a move to expand energy
infrastructure and roll back key Obama administration environmental
actions. Oil producers in Canada and North Dakota are expected to
benefit from a quicker route for crude oil to US Gulf coast refiners.
In Europe, markets closed higher as investors digested fresh economic data and earnings reports. In the United Kingdom, the Supreme Court said
that the government will need Parliamentary approval to start Brexit
negotiations with the European Union (EU). The FTSE 100 ended marginally
flat, while the CAC 40 and DAX ended higher by 0.18 percent and 0.43
percent, respectively.
In India, benchmark indices extended positive momentum for the second
consecutive session Tuesday, with the Nifty closing a percent higher on
short covering ahead of expiry of January derivative contracts tomorrow
and ahead of Union Budget that will be presented on February 1.
The
30-share BSE Sensex rallied 258.24 points to 27375.58, the highest level
since November 10, 2016. The 50-share NSE Nifty gained 84.30 points at
8475.80, led by HDFC Group, auto, infra and oil stocks.
Among stocks to watch today will be Wipro, Bharti Airtel, Ashok Leyland
and Maruti. In key earnings, Maruti Suzuki will report its number on
Wednesday. that the company may report a whopping
74 percent surge in its profit. The company’s realisations is likely be
aided by higher exports as well as success of premium vehicles Brezza
and Baleno.
Wipro will also post its earnings on Wednesday. A CNBC-TV18 poll expects
constant currency growth of 1 percent. An absence of a wage hike may
aid margins, while the firm’s Q4 guidance is seen at 2.5-4.5 percent
Bharti Airtel, the country's largest telecom operator by subscriber
base, has reported a massive 65.5 percent decline in third quarter
profit at Rs 503.7 crore QoQ, which was far lower than analysts'
estimates, despite 5 percent decline in finance cost. It was hit by
exceptional loss, lower revenue and weak operational performance
Revenue during the quarter fell 5.3 percent to Rs 23,335.7 crore
compared with Rs 24,671.5 crore in previous quarter as India business
impacted by Reliance Jio's free services and demonetisation.
Wockhardt posted a dismal Q3 performance as subdued US business and
demonetisation in India and continued remediation costs hit its
business. The company’s margins crashed to 2 percent. Biocon reported a
strong performance with a 30 percent jump in its revenues.
The US dollar held firm against the yen and euro, after several days of
losses in the wake of Trump's inaugural speech promising more trade
protectionism, as the US’ economic outlook was still seen better than
that of Europe or Japan.
Crude prices remained soft ahead of weekly US inventory data. Increased
drilling in the United States also weighs on prices.
