Top 10 things to know before the market opens today

Stock Market Today:

The market is expected to open flat as trends in the SGX Nifty indicate a muted opening for the broader index in India with a loss of 30  points.

On the Muhurat trading day, benchmark indices ended on a strong note with the Nifty finishing above 17,700.

The Sensex was up 524.51 points or 0.88 percent at 59831.66, and the Nifty was up 154.50 points or 0.88 percent at 17,730.80. About 2,602 shares have advanced, 727 shares declined, and 153 shares are unchanged.

Stay tuned to Moneycontrol to find out what happens in the currency and equity markets today. We have collated a list of important headlines across news platforms which could impact Indian as well as international markets:

US Markets

US stocks advanced on Monday, extending last week's gains as signs of economic softness suggested the effects of the Fed's aggressive policy aimed at cooling the economy, thereby curbing decades-high inflation, are beginning to take root.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 417.06 points, or 1.34 percent, to 31,499.62, the S&P 500 gained 44.59 points, or 1.19 percent, to 3,797.34 and the Nasdaq Composite added 92.90 points, or 0.86 percent, to 10,952.61.

Asian Markets

Asian markets were trading mixed on October 25 with Hang Seng down 1.3 percent, Taiwan Weighted down 0.67 percent and Shanghai Composite down 0.6 percent. However, Kospi, Straits Times and Nikkei up 0.5-1 percent.

SGX Nifty

Trends on SGX Nifty indicate a flat to negative start for the broader index in India, with a loss of 30 points. The Nifty futures were trading around 17,830 level on the Singaporean Exchange.

China GDP grows 3.9% YoY in Q3: Official data

China's economy grew 3.9 percent year-on-year in the third quarter, according to official data released Monday, beating forecasts.

The data, published six days later than scheduled, showed higher growth than the 2.5 percent predicted by a panel of experts surveyed by AFP.

Last Monday, China delayed the release of the third-quarter growth figures - along with a host of other economic indicators - as the country's leaders gathered to hand President Xi Jinping a historic third term.

Beijing's National Bureau of Statistics announced that the release of the economic data would be "postponed" without specifying a reason or timeline for the figures to be released.

China had been expected to announce some of its weakest quarterly growth figures since 2020, with its economy hobbled by Covid-19 restrictions and a real estate crisis.

Fed to hike by 75 bps again, should pause when inflation halves: Reuters poll

The US Federal Reserve will go for its fourth consecutive 75 basis point interest rate hike on November 2, according to economists polled by Reuters, who said the central bank should not pause until inflation falls to around half its current level.

Its most aggressive tightening cycle in decades has brought with it ever bigger recession risks. The survey also showed a median 65 percent probability of one within a year, up from 45 percent.

Forex reserves fall $4.5 billion to $528.37 billion

India’s forex reserves dropped by $4.50 billion to $528.37 billion for the week ended October 14, the RBI said on Friday.

The overall reserves had increased by $204 million to $532 billion in the previous reporting week, which was the first weekly increase in the kitty since August this year.

In October 2021, the country’s forex kitty had reached an all-time high of $645 billion. The reserves have been declining as the central bank deploys the kitty to defend the rupee amid pressures caused majorly by global developments.

Foreign Currency Assets (FCA), a major component of the overall reserves, saw a drop of $2.828 billion to $468.668 billion during the week to October 14, according to the Weekly Statistical Supplement released by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Friday.

RIL Q2 consolidated net profit flat on-year at Rs 13,656 crore

Oil-to-telecom major Reliance Industries on October 21 reported a consolidated net profit of Rs 13,656 crore for the quarter ended September as against Rs 13,680 crore in the year-ago quarter.

Revenues at the petrochemical major surged 33.7 percent to Rs 2.32 lakh crore, led by strong performance of the oil-to-chemical, telecom and retail operations in the quarter.

Hindustan Unilever Q2 profit rises 20% to Rs 2,616 crore, volume grows 4%

FMCG major Hindustan Unilever Ltd (HUL) on October 21 declared a 20 percent year-on-year rise in standalone profit after tax (PAT) at Rs 2,616 crore for the September quarter (Q2FY23). In the corresponding quarter of the previous fiscal, net profit stood at Rs 2,187 crore.

Sequentially, net profit grew 14 percent from Rs 2,289 crore in the June quarter.

Standalone revenue from operations came in at Rs 14,751 crore, an increase of 16 percent from the year-ago period. Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) for the quarter stood at Rs 3,377 crore, growing 8 percent from Rs 3,132 crore in the same quarter last year.

EBITDA margin declined 180 basis points YoY to 23.3 percent. While revenue and profit beat Street estimates, the EBITDA margin was slightly below.

ICICI Bank Q2 Result | Profit surges 37% to Rs 7,558 crore as bad loan provisions drop

ICICI Bank, the country's second largest private sector lender, on October 22 registered a massive 37 percent year-on-year growth in standalone profit and a 26.5 percent rise in net interest income, with a significant fall in bad loan provisions.

The standalone profit jumped to Rs 7,557.84 crore for the quarter, rising from Rs 5,511 crore in the same period last year, the bank said in its BSE filing.

The bank further said its net interest income during the quarter increased to Rs 14,787 crore, compared to Rs 11,690 crore in the corresponding period last fiscal, with net interest margin expanding around 30 bps on sequential as well as on-year basis.

Crude

Oil edged higher on concern about near-term supply tightness, and as a raft of positive US earnings supported appetite for risk.

West Texas Intermediate rose toward $85 a barrel in early Asian trading after dropping in the prior two sessions. The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies have agreed to curb supplies from November ahead of European Union sanctions on Russian oil flows the next month. Key market time spreads - a gauge of tightness - remain in backwardation, a bullish pattern.

With inputs from Reuters and other agencies