Will Wipro, Ashok Leyland Q1 results cheer Nifty today?

In the US, markets staged a strong recovery from the lows with the Dow posting a triple-digit recovery; however the three major indices still finished in the red amid fresh worries over the euro zone.

It's the first consecutive two-day triple-digit point loss for the Dow since April 10.

US markets are also contending with an earnings season where more than 40% of companies have missed Wall Street revenue estimates so far. The CBOE volatility index surged 14% to end above 18.

Earnings in US

Mcdonald shares slipped after the company reported quarterly results that missed expectations. The earnings miss was the Dow component's first since 2004 when it missed estimates by a penny.

Data to watch out for in US

The July PMI manufacturing flash index is due today. Consensus estimates see it coming in slightly lower at 52.6 compared to 52.9 last month. The June number was the weakest rate of growth in 18 months.

The Richmond fed manufacturing index is expected to see slight recovery after it contracted to minus 3 in June. Estimates peg the July reading at zero.

The may purchase only house price index by the federal housing finance agency is seen lower at 0.3% compared to 0.8% in April.

European markets

European markets ended sharply lower as a move by Spain to ban short-selling on all Spanish securities raised fears that the region's sovereign debt and banking crisis may be worse than expected.

The Greek market ended with nearly 7% losses overnight. now today Greece’s lender, the troika are set to start their assessment of the country's finances.

A full report is not expected until just before September. EU officials say it is unlikely that Athens will see any further bailout money before then.

Asian markets

At 7: 40 am (IST) China's Shanghai Composite was up 0.26% or 5.49 points at 2,146.89.  Japan's Nikkei was down 0.32% or 26.88 points at 8,481.44.

Singapore's Straits Times was up 0.59% or 17.53 points at 3,000.02. South Korea's Seoul Composite was down 0.12% or 2.20 points at 1,787.24.

Taiwan's Taiwan Weighted shed 0.39% or 27.09 points at 7,001.64. Hong Kong's Hang Seng shut today.

And back home, it was a disappointing session for markets. The Nifty tanked 90 points to close just above the 5,100 mark.

Earnings to watch in India

Wipro, India's No. 3 software services exporter's consolidated net profit grew by 6.7% QoQ to Rs 1,580.2 crore and net sales went up by 7.61% to Rs 10,619.6 crore during the same  period.

These numbers were in line with expectations as analysts had forecast of Rs 1,578 crore for net profit and Rs 10,510 crore for net sales.

Sesa Goa, Ashok Leyland and Lupin are some other who would declare results today.

Euro Zone Crisis

Meanwhile, both Italy and Spain have re-introduced the ban on short selling financial stocks. However it did little to halt the slump across stocks.

Spain's economy minister denied the government seeking full-scale bailout. He reassured that the current volatility in the market was a short-term concern.

Currency

The euro hit a new two-year low versus the dollar as euro zone worries resurface. The dollar index is holding firm above 83.

Commodities

Oil prices fell sharply yesterday. Brent fell more than 3% to USD 103 levels while Nymex slipped 4% to USD 88 levels on Spanish debt woes.

From the precious metals space, safe-haven bids help gold outperform equities and commodities. Gold prices came off its lows and it is currently around USD 1,576 an ounce.

Domestic cues

Petrol will be dearer by 70 paisa from today. The hike comes in the backdrop of increasing crude oil prices. Indian oil attributed the increase to rising crude prices and a fluctuating rupee.  According to OMCs, the under recovery on petrol at the moment is Rs 1.41 per litre.

Spectrum: EGoM's many choices

CNBC-TV18 learns that the empowered group of ministers has suggested two options for 1,800 mega hertz reserve price. Option one is to charge between Rs 14,111 crore to Rs 15,111 crore for 5 mega hertz. The cabinet will now take a final call on the spectrum pricing for the auction.

Stocks in news

Allahabad Bank has cut interest rate by 0.25% to 9.25% on domestic term deposit. There is also an interest rate cut on scheme with maturity period of 1-2 years.

FMCG major HUL posted strong 9% volume growth in the first quarter, in-line with estimates.

Idea posted disappointing set of results, lower than street expectations. Revenue growth slowed down to 2.5% after many quarters of 5-9% revenue growth.

Beating estimates Cairn India posted 22% growth in sales sequentially on better than expected realizations at USD 101 a barrel.

Harsha Jethmalani
harsha.jethmalani@network18online.com