Markets seen rangebound; Tata Steel, Hero, BPCL in focus post Q1 results

Indian stock markets are likely to be rangebound on Friday while trends in the SGX Nifty indicate a soft opening for the benchmark indices. On Thursday, the BSE Sensex ended at 38,310.49, losing 59.14 points or 0.15% and the 50-share index Nifty was at 11,300.45, slipping 7.95 points or 0.07%.

Asian shares were mostly higher in the early deals as markets weighed a pause in Wall Street’s multi-month stock rebound and awaited the release of Chinese economic data later in the session.

The S&P 500 ended slightly lower on Thursday after briefly trading above its record closing high level for a second day, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average also dipped.

Wall Street’s hesitation came as US lawmakers continued to battle over a new economic stimulus package and after a report from the US Labor Department showed the number of Americans seeking unemployment benefits dropped below one million last week for the first time since the start of the covid-19 pandemic - not enough to change economists’ views that the jobs market recovery was faltering.

India’s largest private steel producer Tata Steel posted a consolidated net loss of ₹4,648 crore in the June quarter due to lower production and sales in domestic and European markets. The company had reported a profit of ₹714 crore in the year-ago period. Its operating revenue fell 32% year-on-year to ₹23,812 crore, as sales fell 22% globally from 6.34 million tonnes (mt) in Q1FY20 to 4.93 mt in Q1FY21.

Hero MotoCorp Ltd – country’s largest two-wheeler manufacturer reported a 95.12 % year on year decrease in standalone net profit to ₹61.31 crore, for the quarter ending June 30, as a result of a significant decline in retail sales, due to the adverse impact of the covid -19 pandemic.

State-run Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) on Thursday posted 21.6% rise in consolidated net profit at ₹2,187.74 crore for the April-June quarter of this fiscal against ₹1,799.59 crore a year ago.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Thursday announced stricter guidelines for core investment companies (CICs), mandating more disclosures, better risk management and a simpler group structure.

The dollar index fell 0.141%. The Japanese yen weakened 0.03% versus the greenback at 106.96 per dollar; The Australian dollar rose 0.03% versus the greenback at $0.715 and the offshore Chinese yuan weakened to 6.9485 per dollar.

Benchmark US Treasury yields surged to seven-week highs on Thursday after the Treasury sold a record amount of 30-year bonds to weak demand. Ten-year yields were last at 0.718%, after earlier reaching 0.727%, the highest since 24 June. They are up from 0.504% last Thursday, which was the lowest since 9 March.

Oil prices eased on Thursday after a weaker demand forecast, but the weak dollar limited losses as traders kept an eye on U.S. stimulus headlines. US crude was up 0.24% to $42.34 per barrel while Brent settled Thursday’s session at $44.96.

Spot gold added 0.3% to $1,958.07 an ounce.

(Reuters contributed to the story)