Sensex, Nifty to open flat; LIC, Bharti Airtel, Raymond, Indian Oil, Bajaj Electricals shares in focus

Indian equity benchmarks, the BSE Sensex and the NSE Nifty, are likely to see a muted opening on Tuesday, tracking mixed cues from global peers as weak macro data by China and the U.S. raised concern about global economic growth. The negative trends on SGX Nifty also indicated a muted opening for the domestic bourses, with SGX Nifty futures trading 29 points, or 0.18%, higher at 15,872 on the Singapore Stock Exchange at 8:20 AM. Investors will keep a close eye on the highly-anticipated listing of LIC of India shares on the domestic bourses. Among others, earnings reports from Bharti Airtel, Indian Oil, Bajaj Electricals, Sun Pharma Advanced Research Company, Zydus Wellness GMR Infrastructure, and DLF will also be in the focus.

On Monday, the domestic bourses ended higher, snapping a six-session losing streak, supported by a spurt in buying across banking, auto and power stocks. However, profit-booking in IT and select heavyweight counters as well as mixed global cues limited the market's gain. The BSE Sensex closed 180 points or 0.34%, higher at 52,974 levels, and the NSE Nifty rose 60 points, or 0.38%, to finish at 15,842. The top gainers on the BSE Sensex pack were HDFC, HDFC Bank, Kotak Bank, ICICI Bank, SBI, IndusInd Bank, NTPC, Bajaj Finance, Maruti Suzuki India, and M&M.

Shares to focus

GlaxoSmithKline Pharmaceuticals: The pharma company on Monday reported a consolidated net loss of ₹55 crore from continuing operations for the March quarter (Q4FY22), as against net profit of ₹4 crore for Q4FY21. Revenue from operations rose to ₹810 crore, from ₹744 crore in the year-ago period.

Raymond: The fabric and fashion retailer has posted over four-fold jump in its consolidated net profit to Rs 264.97 crore for the fourth quarter ended in March 2022, compared to a net profit of Rs 58.36 crore during the January-March quarter of the previous fiscal.

ACC, Ambuja Cements: Shares of cement companies will be in focus after the Adani family made an open offer to acquire a 26% stake each in its two listed firms from public shareholders.

Interglobe Aviation (IndiGo): Shares of the airline will be in focus after aviation regulator DGCA prima facie found Indigo’s handling of special child at Ranchi Airport inappropriate. The company is expected to be issued a show-cause notice in this regard.

Max Healthcare: The company in an exchange filing said that its board approved merger of its wholly-owned subsidiaries of Alps Hospital and Max Hospitals.

F&O ban: Shares of GNFC, Indiabulls Housing Finance, and Punjab National Bank will be under F&O ban today as their securities have crossed 95% of the market-wide position limit.

Wall Street ends lower

In the overnight trade, the U.S. indices closed lower in choppy trade as investors remained concerns about uncertainty regarding global economic growth in the backdrop of rising inflation and hawkish policy stance by the Federal Reserve. The market sentiment was also dented by slump in New York state manufacturing activity, which contracted in May, raising concerns about health of the economy. The S&P 500 ended 0.4% lower, and tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite dropped 1.2%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed marginally higher by 0.08%.

Asian stocks trade on mixed note

Shares in the Asia-Pacific region were trading mixed in opening deals on Tuesday, tracking weak cues from Wall Street overnight. Investors weighed lower-than-expected China’s industrial output and consumer spending data, which were impacted Covid lockdowns.

Regional heavyweight Japan’s Nikkei 225 was up 0.2%, South Korea’s KOSPI gained 0.6%, and Australia's ASX 200 index rose 0.3%. Similarly, the Straits Times Index in Singapore jumped 0.5%, Taiwan’s Weighted index climbed 0.7% and Indonesia’s Jakarta Composite rallied 1.3%.

The Hang Seng index in Hong Kong was the best performer in the regional market with a 1.7% gain.

In mainland China, shares were trading on a mixed note with the Shenzhen Component adding 0.3% while the Shanghai Composite falling 0.2% in early trade.

FIIs remain net sellers, DIIs net buyers

The foreign institutional investors (FIIs) continued to remain net sellers in the Indian equity market on May 16, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) continued to support the market. As per the exchange data, FIIs net sold shares worth ₹1,788.9 crore, while DIIs net purchased shares worth ₹1,428.4 crore.

Corporate earnings

The major companies that are slated to release their earnings numbers today include Bharti Airtel, Indian Oil, Bajaj Electricals, Sun Pharma Advanced Research Company, Zydus Wellness GMR Infrastructure, and DLF. Among others, Abbott India, Bajaj Healthcare, EID Parry (India), Indoco Remedies, IRB Infrastructure Developers, Jubilant Ingrevia, Kajaria Ceramics, Dr Lal PathLabs, Minda Corporation, Sapphire Foods India, Fairchem Organics, Galaxy Surfactants, NOCIL, Nucleus Software Exports, and PI Industries, will release quarterly earnings on May 17.

LIC shares to list on BSE, NSE today

The shares of Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) of India will be listed on the BSE and the NSE today with a valuation of around ₹6 lakh crore. LIC would be the fifth-largest listed company in terms of market capitalisation after Reliance Industries, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), HDFC Bank, and Infosys. The issue price for the IPO has been set at ₹949 per share, upper band of the price range of ₹902 to ₹949 per share. The central government had raised ₹20,557.23 crore by selling 3.5% shares in LIC of India in what was the country’s largest-ever IPO. Ahead of the IPO, the insurer had raised ₹5,627 crore from the anchor investors.