10 things you need to know before the opening bell on July 28

SUMMARY

The Indian market is likely to open higher on Wednesday as the trend on SGX Nifty indicates a positive start for the broader index in India. However, weak global cues may dent sentiment. The Nifty futures were trading 68.85 points or 0.44 percent higher at the 15,802 level on the Singaporean Exchange at 7:50 am.

By CNBCTV18.comJul 28, 2021 8:00:50 AM IST (Published)

1. Wall Street: Stocks closed lower on Wall Street Tuesday, pulling major indexes back slightly from the records they set a day earlier. Weakness in big technology companies was the biggest factor. The S&P 500 fell 0.5 percent and DJIA lost 0.2 percent. The tech-heavy index, Nasdaq fell 1.2 percent.

2. Asian shares: Shares in Asia-Pacific were mixed in Wednesday morning trade, with stocks in Hong Kong paring some losses from a two-day rout. On Wednesday, the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong jumped 1.4 percent. That followed a more than 8 percent decline over two days earlier this week triggered by regulatory fears over sectors such as technology and private education. Mainland Chinese stocks, on the other hand, continued slipping. In Japan, the Nikkei 225 declined 0.74 percent. South Korea’s Kospi shed 0.19 percent. The S&P/ASX 200 in Australia dipped 0.35 percent. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan traded 0.16 percent higher.

3. Indian shares: Indian benchmark indices, Sensex and Nifty, closed half a percent lower Tuesday for the second session in a row as investors digested a slew of quarterly earnings. The Sensex closed 273 points lower at 52,578 and the Nifty settled 78 points lower at 15,746.

4. Crude oil: Oil prices climbed Wednesday after industry data showed US crude and product inventories fell more sharply than expected last week, reinforcing expectations that demand will outstrip supply growth even amid a surge in COVID-19 cases. US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures rose 0.6 percent to $72.08 a barrel and brent crude futures rose 0.5 percent to $74.86 a barrel.

5. Rupee: The rupee slipped by 5 paise to close at 74.47 against the US currency Tuesday as the dollar strengthened in the overseas markets and the domestic equity indices closed with losses. Meanwhile, the dollar index rose 0.12 percent to 92.76.

6. Gold: Gold on Tuesday rose slightly by Rs 63 to Rs 47,461 per 10 grams amid weak international precious metal prices. Silver dipped lower by Rs 1001 to Rs 67,127 per kg. In the international market, Gold ticked up as the dollar softened and US real yields plunged to a record low. Spot gold rose 0.1 percent to $1,799.40 per ounce.

7. Cryptocurrencies: Bitcoin, the world’s largest cryptocurrency, rose 8 percent Wednesday to trade very close to the $40k levels. The coin has surged over 30 percent in the last seven days. Ether also surged 6 percent to trade at $2,314, having surged over 30 percent in the last seven days.

8. GDP forecast: The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has sharply cut India’s growth forecast for the current fiscal following the setback from the second COVID-19 wave. India’s gross domestic product (GDP) is estimated to grow by 9.5 percent in FY22, according to the latest World Economic Outlook report released by the IMF on July 27.

9. Nomura on India: Rob Subbaraman, head-global macro research at Nomura, on Tuesday, said that the thing that’s going to constrain the Indian equity market is inflation being sticky; and the central bank may at some point, pivot to a more hawkish view.