Flat opening seen for Sensex, Nifty; Vodafone Idea, Bajaj Auto, GAIL, DCB Bank, Zomato shares eyed

The domestic benchmarks, the BSE Sensex and the NSE Nifty, are set to open on a muted note on Thursday, following mixed cues from Asian markets and a negative finish at Wall Street overnight. Investors’ appetite for riskier assets soared amid growing fear that aggressive policy tightening by the U.S. Federal Reserve and other central banks could push the global economy into recession. The subdued trading on SGX Nifty also indicated a flat opening for the domestic bourses, with SGX Nifty futures trading 13 points, or 0.08%, higher at 15,410 on the Singapore Stock Exchange at 8:10 AM.

On Wednesday, the Indian share market closed lower, snapping a two-session gaining streak, following weak cues from Asian peers. The persistent fund outflows by foreign investors also injected negativity in the market. The 30-share BSE Sensex plunged 710 points, or 1.35%, to settle at 51,822, and the NSE Nifty tumbled 225 points, or 1.44%, to settle at 15,413. From the Sensex pack, Tata Steel, Wipro, Reliance Industries, IndusInd Bank, HCL Technologies, Bajaj Finserv, Titan, and Bajaj Finance were among the top losers. On the flip side, TCS, HUL, PowerGrid, and Maruti Suzuki India were among notable gainers.

Stocks to watch

Vodafone Idea: The telecom major has received its board approval to raise up to ₹436.21 crore from promoter Euro Pacific on a preferential basis. The company will also hold an extraordinary general meeting on July 15 to seek the approval of shareholders for the preferential issue.

Bajaj Auto: The automobile company said in an exchange filing that its board will meet on June 27 to further consider the proposal for the buyback of shares of the company. The board had earlier announced to discuss the proposal in its meeting on June 14, but was eventually deferred.

GAIL India: The oil and gas major plans to enter into distributed Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) production to take the fuel to users.

DCB Bank: The private sector lender has appointed Satish Gundewar as its chief financial officer and key managerial personnel.

IRB Infrastructure Developers: The company has received 75% of the arbitration award of ₹419 crore from IRB Pathankot Amritsar Toll Road Ltd, an SPV of IRB InvIT Fund.

GPT Infraprojects: The infra company has secured an order worth ₹292 crore for the execution of viaducts, major bridges, ROBs, supply of vehicles, site facilities and other allied works for Khurda Road-Bolangir New BG link project of East Coast Railway.

Glenmark Pharmaceuticals: The US FDA has issued form 483 with six observations for its Baddi Unit, which was inspected between June 13 to June 22.

Zomato: The board of directors of Zomato will meet on June 24 and may consider the acquisition of e-grocery startup Blinkit (formerly Grofers). The company in a regulatory filing on Wednesday said that it will discuss a potential acquisition, but it did not disclose details.

Here are the key things investors should know before the market opens today:

Wall Street ends lower on recession fear

In the overnight trade, all three major U.S. indices closed lower as investors weighed comments about the economy from Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell, who appeared before the Senate Banking Committee on Wednesday. He said that the central bank is "strongly committed" to curbing inflation, but also warned that a recession is a 'possibility'. Reversing early gains, the S&P 500 ended 0.1 lower, the Nasdaq Composite shed 0.2%, and the Dow Jones index fell 0.2%.

Asian stocks mixed

Shares in the Asia-Pacific region were trading mixed in early trade on Thursday, following a negative finish on Wall Street overnight. The market sentiment was spooked amid concerns that the U.S. Fed’s aggressive rate hikes may lead to a recession.

Regional heavyweight Japan’s Nikkei 225 was trading flat with a negative bias, while South Korea’s KOSPI fell 0.7%. Taiwan Weighted slipped nearly 0.7% and Indonesia’s Jakarta Composite shed 0.2%.

Bucking the trend, the Straits Times Index in Singapore gained 0.7%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 0.5%, and Australia’s ASX 200 added 0.3%.

In mainland China, shares were trading on a mixed note, with Shenzhen Component falling by 0.15% and the Shanghai Composite rising by 0.15%.

Oil extends fall on demand concerns

The price of Brent and U.S. crude continued downtrend on Thursday, falling over 3% amid concern that the global recession would impact demand for fuel. On Wednesday, oil prices had fallen over 4% amid concerns that the U.S. economy may enter recession due to aggressive rate hikes by the Federal Reserve, while a fresh Covid wave in China raised concerns about the demand outlook.

In Asian trading hours, the Brent oil for July delivery was trading 2.5% lower at $108.9 per barrel, while the U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude July futures were quoting at $103.2 a barrel, up 2.8%.

FIIs continue selling spree

The foreign institutional investors (FIIs) continued their selling spree in the Indian equity market on June 22, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) continued to support the market. As per the exchange data, FIIs net sold shares worth ₹2,920.61 crore, which was compensated by ₹1,859.07 crore equity purchase by the DIIs.