Market to be watchful of rupee, auto, OMC, telecom stocks

The market is likely to be volatile today but rupee movement will hold key. On Wednesday, after breaching 61 per dollar, the rupee recovered in trade as commerce minister announced export sops, FM promised easier flows and PSU banks sold dollars.

RBI will auction 7-day cash management bills worth Rs 3,000 crore today. RBI says cash management bills auction is based on multiple price method.

The FOMC meet seems to be a non-event for the market as the Federal Reserve said it will maintain its bond-buying policy in its ongoing effort to bolster the economy.

Back home, July auto sales data are due today. Retail sales could see a decline for all segments especially 2-wheelers led by fuel price hike, high rates and weak economic sentiment. Car volumes are seen declining by 4-5 percent year on year.

Stock in news

The cabinet is set to consider a 10 percent divestment in IOC today, even as oil minister writes to Dept of Divestment saying it is not a good time for divestment. Meanwhile, oil marketing companies (OMCs) have hiked petrol prices by 70 paise a litre, as international crude prices surge. Diesel prices are hiked by 50 paise per litre.

After Axis Bank, YES Bank, HDFC Bank has raised its deposit rates on tenures of 46 days to six months by one percentage point from 7.5 percent to 8.5 percent. For tenures between six months to one year, it raised deposit rates by 0.75 percent from 8 percent to 8.75 percent.

Newspaper reports suggest the Maharashtra Foods and Drugs Administration has registered an FIR in Pune against Wockhardt's clearing and forwarding outlets for the alleged illegal sale and distribution of spasmo-proxy-von capsules.

L&T says it has no plans to cut 1 percent stake in L&T Finance Holdings via share sale. L&T Finance has time till August 10 to meet public float norm.

National Fertilizer Ltd (NFL) offer-for-sale was subscribed 1.6 times. It got bids for 5.84 crore shares. The indicative price was around the floor price at Rs 27 a share.

The Neyveli Lignite IPP is scheduled on August 2. The price band is set at Rs 58-60 per share.

Sources say Fresenius Kabi challenges SEBI order before Saturday. SEBI had given conditional nod to Fresenius for delisting. The SEBI stipulation would require co to pick up 14 percent from market.

Companies that are expected to announce April-June quarter results are Adani Port, Adani Power Idea Cellular, Glenmark Pharma, Titan Inds, BoB, Union Bank, Power Grid, Cummins, Glaxosmithkl Consumer, J&K Bank, Reliance Communication, Tata Global, Ceat, Jubliant Life Science, Mangalore Chemicals, PTC India Fin, Tata Teleservices, Nelcast, Timken and Triveni Engineering.

Global cues

In US, markets wrapped up the final trading day of the month on a flat note, but still logged their best July since 2010. For the month, the Dow rallied 3.96 percent, the S&P 500 soared 4.95 percent, and the Nasdaq jumped 6.56 percent. All three major averages posted their best July since 2010.

Asian markets were trading higher. China's Shanghai Composite gained 1.08 percent or 21.54 points at 2,015.34. 

Hong Kong's Hang Seng rose 1.10 percent or 240.99 points at 22,124.65.  Japan's Nikkei added 0.89 percent or 121.59 points at 13,789.91. 

Singapore's Straits Times advanced 0.92 percent or 29.77 points at 3,251.70. South Korea's Seoul Composite was up 0.43 percent or 8.19 points at 1,922.22. 

Asset class

In the currency space, the euro holds above 1.32 to the dollar. The dollar index is around 81.60 levels. The dollar yen is at 98

Brent crude hovers around USD 107. Nymex rises to USD 105 levels. Gold continues to trade around USD 1330 an ounce.