Domestic stocks to track lower global cues next week

Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], May 7 : The domestic stocks are expected to track weak global cues next week as more central banks will follow the US Federal Reserve's way and the pattern of the European Central Bank and Reserve Bank of Australia. These economies are trying to rein in inflation which is rising in these countries. The earnings of compes announced last week were rather a mixed bag and it didn't lift investors' sentiments that much.

The US Federal Reserve on Friday raised interest rates by a quarter of a percentage point and signalled it may pause further increases. The increase lifted the Fed's benchmark federal funds rate to a range of 5 per cent to 5.25 per cent, the highest level since 2007, up from nearly zero early last year. The central bank has been under pressure from lawmakers and former Fed policymakers to pause its rate hike cycle.

The European Central Bank (ECB) also raised interest rates by 25 basis points as expected, marking a slowdown from a recent string of more aggressive 50-point hikes.

The interest rate for the ECB's main refinancing operations will rise to 3.75 per cent, while the deposit facility rate will climb to 3.25 per cent, and the marginal lending facility rate will move up to 4 per cent.

ECB president Christine Lagarde noted there was "almost unmous" support for a smaller uptick in interest rates. She suggested that this may not be the final rise in its current policy-tightening campaign.

India's foreign exchange reserves rose by USD 4.532 billion to USD 588.780 billion on a weekly basis as of April 28, according to the Reserve Bank of India's data which came on Friday.

During the prior week ended on April 21, the foreign exchange reserves fell by USD 2.16 billion to USD 584.24 billion. In the week to April 14, they rose by USD 1.657 billion to USD 586.412 billion, witnessing a level not seen in more than nine months.

India's foreign currency assets, the biggest component of the forex reserves, rose by USD 4.996 billion to USD 519.485 billion.

"Wall Street has witnessed prolonged selling pressure due to apprehensions in the banking sector about the strength of regional banks," said Vinod Nair, head of research at Geojit Financial Services.

Coming back to stocks, according to BSE, it was a mixed bag for compes of earnings reports in the last week. Nestle and Tata Consumer have delivered strong results while Hindustan Unilever and Dabur have missed expectations.

Meanwhile, smaller fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) players such as Bajaj Consumer and Jyothy Labs have exceeded expectations and shown promising growth.

"Markets were under a bear hug on the back of massive profit-taking amid sell-off in HDFC twins, US banking woes and weak Wall Street cues. The negative takeaway was that Nifty Bank tumbled 2.32 per cent on reports that the merger of HDFC twins may result in slight outflows of USD 150-200 million. Traders will get their first chance to react to US April jobs data to trickle this evening," Prashanth Tapse, Senior V-P (Research), Mehta Equities, said.

Tata Steel shares dropped 0.45 per cent. Steel major reported a net profit of Rs 1,566 crore in fourth quarter FY24 as compared to net profit of Rs 9,835 crore in the year-ago period. Turnover dropped to Rs 62,962 crore, against Rs 69,324 crore in the March quarter the previous year.

MRF's gained 5.23 per cent on Wednesday. Its net profit jumped 106.2 per cent to Rs 340.67 crore in March quarter of FY23, against Rs 165.21 crore in Q4 FY22.

Ad Wilmar (AWL) slipped 4.30 per cent after the company's net profit slumped 60.05 per cent to Rs 93.61 crore in the fourth quarter, against Rs 234.29 crore in the year-ago period.

Housing Development Finance Corporation (HDFC) jumped 2.64 per cent after the housing finance major's standalone net profit rose 19.6 per cent to Rs 4,425.50 crore on 35.62 per cent jump in total income to Rs 16,692.12 crore in the fourth quarter of FY23 over Q4 FY22.

Ad Enterprises' stocks rallied 3.85 per cent on exchanges after the company's consolidated net profit zoomed 137.41 per cent to Rs 722.48 crore in the quarter ended March 31, 2023, against Rs 304.32 crore recorded in Q4 FY22.