Stock Market Today: Top 10 things to know before the market opens

Foreign institutional investors (FII) offloaded shares worth Rs 1,005.49 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DII) purchased Rs 1,963.34 crore worth of stocks on October 10, provisional data from the National Stock Exchange (NSE) showed.

OCTOBER 11, 2023

Ever since the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, the subsequent lockdowns and its economic impact, the securities market has seen a rampant increase demat accounts. Recently, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that in a span of four years, the number of demat accounts in India have grown 2.5 times from 4.1 crore in 2019-20 to 10 crore in 2022-23. The new retail investors, who entered the market, took liking to stocks across sectors - be it jewellery, chemicals or railways. Here is a list of top 10 companies that saw their public shareholder base grow exponentially in the last few years.

The benchmark Sensex and Nifty indices are likely to open marginally higher on October 11 as trends in the GIFT Nifty indicate a positive start for the broader index with a gain of 15 points.The BSE Sensex climbed 567 points to 66,079, while the Nifty50 jumped 178 points to 19,690, recouping the entire previous day's losses.

"On the hourly chart, the Nifty has broken out of an Inverted Head and Shoulder's pattern. In the short term, the index is expected to maintain its strength," Rupak De, senior technical analyst at LKP Securities said.

He feels a decisive move above 19,700 levels could potentially propel the index towards the range of 19,850 to 19,900. The support level is situated at 19,600, he said. The Nifty Midcap 100 and Smallcap 100 indices also remained strong on positive breadth, rising 1.4 percent and 1.2 percent respectively. About three shares advanced for every falling share on the NSE.

The pivot point calculator indicates that the Nifty may be taking support at 19,600, followed by 19,563 and 19,505. On the higher side, 19,716 can be an immediate resistance, followed by 19,752 and 19,810

Stock futures were little changed in overnight trading as Wall Street looked ahead to Wednesday’s producer price index. Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average were flat, along with those tied to the S&P 500. Nasdaq-100 futures inched up 0.1 percent.

Stocks are coming off a winning session as Treasury yields eased from their recent highs and Wall Street weighed the ripple effects from the Israel-Hamas war. The 30-stock Dow added 0.40 percent, while the S&P 500 gained 0.52 percent and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite jumped 0.58 percent. Meanwhile, the yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury yield fell nearly 13 basis points to about 4.65 percent.

European Markets

European stock markets closed higher Tuesday despite the ongoing conflict in Israel and Gaza. The regional Stoxx 600 index ended 2 percent higher, reversing the pattern seen on Monday, with all sectors well in the green. Travel stocks climbed 3.9 percent despite the global uncertainty as airlines canceled flights to Israel, while mining stocks rallied 2.9 percent.

The al-Qassam armed wing of Palestinian militant group Hamas said it launched hundreds of missiles at the southern Israeli city of Ashkelon Tuesday, saying the attack was “in response to the displacement of civilians.”

It comes after Israel bombarded the Gaza Strip with airstrikes Monday, as it continued its response to a surprise attack by the Palestinian militant group Hamas that began Saturday morning.

Asian Markets

Asia-Pacific markets largely rose, mirroring moves on Wall Street as U.S. Treasury yields fell and oil prices slightly eased. The benchmark 10-year US Treasury yield fell nearly 13 basis points to about 4.65 percent, as investors sought safe assets amid the Hamas-Israel conflict. Yields and prices move in opposite directions.

The move reflected the first reaction to the conflict in the US bond market, which was closed Monday for Columbus Day. In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 climbed 0.6 percent in early trade, extending four straight days of gains.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 0.26 percent as investors assessed the Reuters Tankan survey, which saw business morale at large Japanese firms stay largely unchanged. The Topix however, fell 0.12 percent. South Korea’s Kospi popped 1.63 percent on its open even as chip giant Samsung Electronics forecasted a 78 percent drop in its third-quarter operating profit, while the Kosdaq was up 1.68 percent.

Futures for Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index stood at 17,981, pointing to a stronger open compared with the HSI’s close of 17,664.73 and on pace for a fifth straight session of gains.

TCS Earnings Preview Q2FY24: Moderate growth to continue despite major deal wins

India's largest tech services giant TCS is likely to report moderate growth in its fiscal second quarter earnings, mainly due to weak discretionary spending in the IT sector. Tata Consultancy Services is set to declare its Q2FY24 financial results on October 11.

Analysts expect that the softness observed in the past two quarters will continue, despite the company securing significant deal wins, as profit realisation will require time.

TCS’ profit after tax (PAT) for the July-September quarter is expected to rise 3.12 percent quarter-on-quarter to Rs 11,420 crore, according to an average of five brokerages’ estimates. The firm is likely to report a quarter-on-quarter increase of 1.5 percent in revenue to Rs 60,270crore for the quarter.

BNP Paribas attributes the likely slow revenue growth trend to "the continued impact of a slowdown related to a cut in discretionary tech spending, partially offset by large deal ramp-ups".

RBI directs Bank of Baroda to stop onboarding new customers through BoB World app

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI), on October 10 directed state lender Bank of Baroda to stop onboarding new customers through BoB World, the lender’s digital banking application.

“Bank of Baroda to suspend, with immediate effect, any further onboarding of their customers onto the ‘bob World’ mobile application. This action is based on certain material supervisory concerns observed in the manner of onboarding of their customers onto this mobile application,” the central bank said in a press release.

Following the RBI direction, Bank of Baroda released a clarification stating it has already carried out corrective measures to address the concerns highlighted by the RBI and is taking further steps to plug any remaining gaps. The statement read: “While the Bank has already carried out corrective measures to address the concerns of the RBI, we have initiated further steps to plug any remaining gaps identified and we will work closely with the RBI to address their concerns at the earliest to their satisfaction.”

The RBI also said that any further onboarding of customers of the bank on the application will be subject to rectification of the deficiencies observed and strengthening of the related processes by the bank to the satisfaction of the RBI.

India's space economy to touch $44 billion by 2033, says IN-SPACe Chairman Pawan Goenka

In what could be a shot in the arm for prospective investors and private players in India's space tech ecosystem, the Indian Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre (IN-SPACe), the country's space regulator, estimates the size of the Indian space economy to be around $44 billion, including $11 billion of exports over the next 10 years.

India's space economy as of now makes up 2 percent when compared to the global space market size. However, by 2023, IN-SPACe estimates the $44 billion market size to make up for 8 percent of the global market. The regulator also estimates $22 billion of investments in the sector over the next 10 years.

Till now, India's space tech startups, which have been raising ample funds since last year, often have had to face enquiries from investors regarding the market size of India's space ecosystem. These figures by India's national space regulator represent the potential of the space tech ecosystem, and should help investors in getting an estimate of the market size.

With 8% growth, India's contribution to global GDP would almost be on par with China by 2028: Barclays

In order for India to become the biggest driver for global growth, even overtaking China, it would need to target an 8 percent growth, Barclay’s said in its report. According to Barclay’s analysts, India's growth has outperformed the rest of the world, achieving robust expansion with relatively low inflation and it is on the way to achieve at least 6 percent GDP growth, while keeping broad macro stability intact.

But a key question, the report says is whether authorities can "encourage more rapid growth without compromising India’s hard-won macro stability that has dominated India's growth ambitions since the start of the Ukraine-Russia war".

“Amid considerable economic turbulence in rest of the world, India has been an island of relatively better macro outcomes in the past two years. On the surface, India is once again poised to be the fastest-growing major economy in the medium term, as global growth is expected to be weaker through 2023-2024 (compared to historical levels),” the report says.

Oil Prices

Oil prices oil fell more than $1 a barrel on Tuesday, continuing a slide that began earlier in the day with traders focused on demand levels but still cautious as they watched for potential supply disruptions amid military clashes between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas.

Brent crude was down 38 cents at $87.77 a barrel as of 1:07 p.m. ET, while US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude fell 35 cents to $86.03 a barrel. Both benchmarks had fallen by more than $1 in earlier trade. Brent and WTI had surged more than $3.50 on Monday as the clashes raised fears that the conflict could spread beyond Gaza.

Hamas launched the largest military assault on Israel in decades on Saturday, while Israel pounded the Gaza Strip on Tuesday with the fiercest air strikes in the 75-year history of its conflict with the Palestinians.

Dollar Index

The Dollar index traded 0.26 percent lower in futures at 105.32, whereas the value of one dollar hovered near Rs 83.12.

Gold Prices

Gold prices slipped on Tuesday after rising nearly 2% in the previous session as investors cautiously turned back to riskier assets and looked forward to further cues on the U.S. central bank’s policy stance. Spot gold was just 0.05 percent higher at 1,861.8308 per ounce as of 112:58pm after rising to a more than one week high earlier in the session.

US gold futures climbed 0.6 percent to $1,875.40 an ounce. Spot gold rose 1.6 percent on Monday, its biggest one-day jump in five months, as military clashes between Israel and Palestinian Islamist group Hamas boosted demand for safe-haven investments.

Profit-taking and increased investor appetite for risk pressured prices, although the conflict between Israel and Hamas limited gold’s losses, said Bart Melek, head of commodity strategies at TD Securities. Gold is often a safe haven for investors during times of global instability.

FIIs and DIIs

Foreign institutional investors (FII) offloaded shares worth Rs 1,005.49 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DII) purchased Rs 1,963.34 crore worth of stocks on October 10, provisional data from the National Stock Exchange (NSE) showed.

With inputs from Reuters and other agencies.