Sensex, Nifty to open in red; HAL, RIL, Maruti, Barbeque, Coffee Day, Zee shares eyed

Domestic bourses, the BSE Sensex and the NSE Nifty, are set to open lower on Thursday, mirroring weakness in Asian peers and U.S. stocks as the Federal Reserve signals steeper rate hikes as soon as the war in Ukraine eases. The negative trends on SGX Nifty also indicated a gap-down opening for the domestic bourses, with SGX Nifty futures trading 90 points, or 0.5%, lower at 17,777 on the Singapore Stock Exchange at 8:15 AM.

The prospect of more aggressive policy actions by the U.S. central bank and talks of new sanctions against Russia may also dent market sentiments. Investors will also keep a close eye on the Reserve Bank monetary policy meeting, which will start today.

On Wednesday, the domestic bourses ended lower for the second straight session, weighed down by selling in IT and tech space along with index heavyweights such as HDFC and HDFC Bank. The 30-share Sensex dropped 564 points, or 0.94%, to settle at 59,610, while the Nifty50 ended at 17,808, down 150 points or 0.83%. Bucking the trend, the broader market ended on a positive note, with the BSE midcap and smallcap indices gaining 0.41% and 0.38%, respectively. Among sectors, IT and technology indices were the worst performers, while power and metal space shined. Private sector lender HDFC Bank and housing finance company HDFC were the worst performers, followed by IT companies such as HCL Technologies, Tech Mahindra, and Infosys.

Stocks to focus

Hindustan Aeronautics (HAL): The state-owned aerospace and defence company has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) to convert civil passenger aircraft to “multi mission tanker transport” aircraft in India.

Reliance Industries: Mukesh Ambani-led company has set up an electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure at its Mumbai campus to allow employees to charge their EVs free of cost.

Future Retail: The Supreme Court on Wednesday lifted the stay on arbitral proceedings before Singapore International Arbitration Centre (SIAC) between Future Retail and U.S.-based e-commerce major Amazon.

Maruti Suzuki India: The country’s largest carmaker has said it will hike prices of its entire model range this month amid rising in input costs.

Union Bank of India: The public sector lender has said it will sell its 8% stake in India SME Asset Reconstruction Company in favour of Dhansamridhi Finance.

Barbeque Nation Hospitality: Two firms -- Tamara and Pace -- on Wednesday sold shares worth ₹669 crore of the company through open market transactions. Tamara sold a total of 27.55 lakh shares, while Pace pared 29.93 lakh stocks of the casual dining chain.

Coffee Day Enterprises: The company, which owns and operates coffee cafes in India, on Wednesday said it has defaulted a total of ₹479.68 crore on repayment of loans and unlisted debt securities in the quarter ended March 31, 2022.

Bandhan Bank: Bandhan Financial Holding-led consortium has inked a pact to acquire IDFC Asset Management Company and IDFC AMC Trustee Company for ₹4,500 crore, subject to regulatory approvals.

Zee Entertainment Enterprises: Invesco Developing Markets, the largest shareholder of the entertainment major, will offload 7.8% stake worth ₹2,200 crore in the company via block deals on Thursday. Invesco holds 18.8% shares in Zee Entertainment.

BPCL: The state-owned oil company has reportedly purchased 2 million barrels of Russian Urals for May loading from trader Trafigura.

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

Wall Street falls after Fed minutes

In the overnight trade, all three major U.S. indices closed lower for the second day after minutes from the Federal Reserve's March meeting revealed that policymakers pitch to cut the central bank's balance sheet as soon as next month. Investors continued to digest the Federal Reserve Governor Lael Brainard Brainard's comment that she expected a rapid increase in interest rate and cut in the Fed's balance sheet to control inflation. Extending losses for the second day, the Dow Jones Industrial Average settled 0.42% lower, the S&P 500 dropped 0.97%, and the Nasdaq Composite plunged 2.2%.

Asian stocks fall in early trade

Shares in the Asia-Pacific region traded mostly lower in early trade on Thursday, following a negative finish at Wall Street overnight after the Federal Reserve’s monthly meeting minutes revealed that policymakers are preparing for a more aggressive policy stance to contain inflation. The uncertainty about the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict and the looming fear of fresh sanctions against Moscow also kept investors on edge.

Japan’s benchmark index Nikkei 225 dropped 2%, South Korea’s KOSPI slipped 1.3%, and Taiwan’s Weighted index dipped 0.7%. Hong Kong's benchmark index, the Hang Seng, traded flat with marginal losses.

The Straits Times Index in Singapore fell 0.6%, Australia’s ASX 200 index tumbled 0.5%, while Indonesia’s Jakarta Composite rose 0.25%.

In mainland China, the Shenzhen Component and the Shanghai Composite tumbled 0.9% and 0.4%, respectively.

Oil prices rebound as U.S. imposes fresh sanctions on Russia

The price of Brent and U.S. crude oil rebounded on Thursday after the U.S. announced fresh sanctions against Russia, one of the major oil producers, to starve Putin’s war on Ukraine. The oil prices surged despite International Energy Agency member countries, including the U.S., announcing a huge release of oil from emergency reserves to fill the supply gap from Russia.

During the early trading hours on Thursday, the U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were up 1.7% at $97.9 a barrel, while the Brent oil futures surged 1.8% to $102.9 per barrel.

In the overnight trade, oil futures fell sharply after major consuming nations said they would release oil from reserves to ease supply constraints. The Brent oil futures and the U.S. WTI dived more than 5% to settle at $101.07 a barrel and $96.23 a barrel, respectively.

Meanwhile, petrol and diesel prices have been kept unchanged on Thursday, after several hikes in the last 16 days. The domestic oil companies have raised fuel rates by ₹10 per litre since the ending of a four-and-half-month long hiatus in rate revision on March 22.

FIIs turn net sellers, DIIs continue buying spree

The foreign institutional investors (FIIs) turned net sellers in the Indian equity market on April 6, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) continued their buying spree. As per the exchange data, FIIs offloaded shares worth ₹ 2,279.97 crore, while DIIs net brought shares worth ₹622.92 crore.

RBI’s MPC meet to begin today

The Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) will begin its two-day policy meeting today, while the final decision will be unveiled on April 8. The RBI governor Shaktikanta Das-led MPC is expected to maintain the status quo on interest rates in its forthcoming monetary policy review amidst economic uncertainties created by the ongoing conflict between Ukraine and Russia, the world's largest exporter of oil to global markets. The central bank, however, may revise downward the GDP estimates in the wake of the Russia-Ukraine crisis and raise the inflation forecast as it stayed above the RBI’s 6% upper limit in the last two months.