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    ETMarkets Morning Podcast: What will sway your markets today?

    Synopsis

    Tune in! Morning briefing of news, views and cues before you start your day on Dalal Street.

    ETMarkets.com
    Hey there! Good Morning. This is Saloni Goel from ETMarkets.com with the regular morning briefing of news, views and cues before you start your day on Dalal Street.

    It’s an exciting morning, folks! Exploratory talks for a mega alliance between the Tatas and Bharti Enterprises, domestic low-cost carrier IndiGo's bid for Air India and a marriage between Shriram Group and IDFC have kept the deal street abuzz. And they will surely have takeaways for Dalal Street.

    But the trade setup for the day looks weak. Weakness in the US markets in overnight trade and its bearing on the Asian bourses this morning have created a bearish setup for Dalal Street after Thursday’s impressive bounce.
    US stocks slipped sharply in overnight trade. Dow Jones Industrial Average index fell 158 points to 21,320, while the S&P500 index lost nearly 1 per cent to 2,409 and the Nasdaq Composite 1 per cent to 6,089.

    This got rubbed off on Asian shares too, causing the indices to lose ground. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan slipped 0.3 per cent, while Japan's Nikkei was down 0.5 per cent, South Korea’s KOSPI 0.3 per cent and Australian stocks 1 per cent, said a Reuters report.

    Early this morning, Nifty50 futures were trading 36.50 points lower at 9,631 on Singapore Stock Exchange, indicating a gap-down opening for the domestic market. On Thursday, Dalal Street witnessed a bull charge that lifted the equity indices towards record highs. While BSE Sensex scaled a record closing high of 31,369, the Nifty50 ended the day near its all-time closing peak, just shy of 9,700.

    Nifty’s technical charts do not reflect any specific pattern. The index failed to surpass multiple hurdles at the 9,700 level on Thursday and analysts said it needs to hold decisively above this mark in order to be able to kick off the next leg of the rally, potentially led by short coverings.

    The rupee ended steady on Thursday at 64.78 against the US currency in a range-bound trade amid concerns over a possible rate hike by the Federal Reserve. Forex market sentiment turned subdued after minutes from the Federal Open Market Committee's June meeting struck a hawkish tone indicating a possible rate hike before year-end even with muted inflation levels.

    Oil futures settled slightly higher on Thursday after a sharp but short-lived boost from a much bigger-than-expected decline in US inventories of crude oil and gasoline, Reuters reported. After hitting a high of $46.53 a barrel, WTI crude futures settled 39 cents higher to $45.52, while Brent futures settled 32 cents up at $48.11.

    In other news, the Tata Group and Bharti Enterprises have held exploratory talks to evaluate a mega alliance involving their telecom, overseas cable and enterprise services, and DTH TV businesses. Discussions between the two sides have revolved around a possible merger between unlisted Tata Teleservices and Tata Sky and the listed Tata Communications with the Sunil Mittal-owned Bharti Airtel, which includes its -owned DTH arm, people in the know of things said.

    Meanwhile, IDFC and Shriram groups are in talks to combine all or some of their businesses in a mega union that could straddle traditional banking, consumer lending and truck financing, apart from providing billionaire Ajay Piramal an entry into a highly regulated industry.

    The promoters of IndiGo Airline on Thursday said that their primary interest in Air India is in the carrier's international operations that include the low-cost Air India Express, and that they are not keen on partnering the state in a joint venture for the flagship airline.

    PSU bank stocks will be in focus on Friday after reports that the government is likely to infuse more money in them amid a crackdown on bad loans and increasing capital needs under Basel III guidelines. RBI estimates show these banks will need capital infusion of Rs 48,000 crore this financial year.

    Mauritius has kept its double taxation avoidance treaty with India out of the purview of the global agreement that seeks to prevent companies from avoiding taxes. This will mean investors using the nation to route investments into India will have to wait for clarity on what all standards it adopts. Tax experts said if it does apply similar standards as prescribed under the global treaty, it could impact existing investments.
    India Inc is heading for a dull show as it readies to kick off the June quarter earnings season, as inventory destocking before GST implementation, continued slack in private sector capital expenditure and a slowdown in defensive sectors such as IT and pharma are expected to cripple growth.

    Lastly, a quick look at some of the interesting headlines from the print edition of ETMarkets.
    While the government has been repeatedly brushing aside criticism that India is growing without creating jobs, now it has the backing of some top economists who say that just because there is no data to prove job growth it doesn't mean India is not creating jobs.

    India's changeover to a single producer levy might just help achieve a long-pending federal objective – get residents to buy paper gold as a viable investment. Sovereign gold bonds, which are de-linked from any physical underyling, would likely be preferred by investors in the metal after the introduction of the GST, as the instrument does not attract a producer levy, unlike gold coins and bars that do at 3 per cent. Furthermore, the bonds earn an annual interest.

    And lastly, Nomura Financial Advisory has upgraded shares of Punjab National Bank to `buy' from `neutral', citing a favourable incremental risk-reward ratio after a sharp correction in the past two months.

    We would leave you with that much for now.

    Do log on to www.etmarkets.com through the day for continuous updates on every development in the financial markets.

    Have a good trading day ahead!



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    (What's moving Sensex and Nifty Track latest market news, stock tips and expert advice, on ETMarkets. Also, ETMarkets.com is now on Telegram. For fastest news alerts on financial markets, investment strategies and stocks alerts, subscribe to our Telegram feeds .)

    Download The Economic Times News App to get Daily Market Updates & Live Business News.

    Subscribe to The Economic Times Prime and read the Economic Times ePaper Online.and Sensex Today.

    Top Trending Stocks: SBI Share Price, Axis Bank Share Price, HDFC Bank Share Price, Infosys Share Price, Wipro Share Price, NTPC Share Price

    ...more
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