BackMarkets seen choppy eyeing Budget, eco survey; Sun Pharma, Tata Motors in focus
Sun Pharma, Tech Mahindra, Dabur India, IOC, Tata Motors, Dr Reddy's Labs, Cipla, DLF, IndusInd Bank, Vedanta, UPL and SAIL will announce their December quarter results today
PremiumMUMBAI: Indian stock markets are expected to be volatile on Friday, as investors eye the Economic Survey, to be tabled today, which will provide insights to the state of the economy in FY21, including the impact of the lockdown, announced in March last year, to curb the spread of the coronavirus disease.
The Union Budget, scheduled for 1 February, will also keep markets nervous.
Also Read | Covid vaccination faces slow start
Trends in SGX Nifty suggest a positive opening for domestic equities. On Thursday, the BSE Sensex ended at 46,874.36, down 535.57 points or 1.13%. The Nifty closed at 13,817.55, down 149.95 or 1.07%.
Asian stock markets recovered on Friday but were headed for their steepest weekly loss in months, as a liquidity squeeze in China and a Wall Street retail-trading frenzy has unnerved investors.
Wall Street has been gripped by a coordinated assault on hedge-fund short positions by small traders organising over online forums such as Reddit. They lost some of their firepower overnight when brokers cut off leverage and restricted trading in some of the hottest names such as GameStop and BlackBerry.
The surge in volatility comes just as covid-19 vaccine rollouts have run into a bit of trouble and as global economic data starts to look less rosy.
Investors were impressed by a smaller-than-expected rise in US weekly jobless claims overnight. But they still rose by more than 8,40,000 and data showed the US economy contracted at its sharpest pace since World War Two last year.
Vaccine production delays have also snowballed into a spat between the European Union and drugmakers over how best to direct the limited supplies which are available.
Back home, Sun Pharma, Tech Mahindra, Dabur India, IOC, Tata Motors, Dr Reddy's Labs, Cipla, DLF, IndusInd Bank, Vedanta, UPL and SAIL will announce their December quarter results today.
In the primary market, IRFC will debut in the stock exchanges today. The IPO with a price band of ₹25-26 was subscribed 3.49 times.
Telecom tower company Indus Towers Ltd on Thursday reported a 2% year-on-year (y-o-y) rise in its December quarter consolidated profit to Rs1,360 crore. Consolidated revenue from operations increased 5% from a year ago to Rs6,736 crore for the three months ended 31 December.
The yield on benchmark ten-year U.S. Treasuries rose overnight and held at 1.0585% on Friday. Gold sat at $1,842 an ounce and oil prices were steady, with brent crude futures last up 0.1% at $55.60 a barrel.
(Reuters contributed to the story)
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