GIFT Nifty down 25 points: Asian markets, crude oil prices, dollar movement, Q1 results & more

Domestic equity markets are likely open lower on Wednesday tracking the negative cues from the global markets. Asian stocks opened lower in the early trade after US stocks settled mostly lower in the overnight trade. Fitch's downgrade on US Foreign currency ratings is likely to loom over the markets in the near term ahead of key economic data later this week. Back home, Q1 earnings from select stocks including Titan, Ambuja Cements and InterGlobe Aviation would be keenly tracked. Here's what you should know before the opening bell:

Nifty outlook
Nifty traded in a narrow range of 19,700-19,800, maintaining its overall bullish sentiment. It stayed above the critical near-term moving average (21EMA), reinforcing the positive outlook, said Rupak De, Senior Technical analyst at LKP Securities.

"A hidden positive divergence on the daily chart indicates a potential bullish reversal in price momentum. Short-term prospects suggest a sideways to positive trend if the index stays above 19,550. A decisive move above 19,800 could drive the index towards the 20000-mark," he said.

GIFT Nifty signals a positive start
Nifty futures on the Nifty International Exchange traded 24.5 points, or 0.12 per cent, lower at 19,777.50, hinting at a negative start for the domestic market on Wednesday.

Asian stocks open lower
Asian shares cracked lower on Wednesday after Fitch's downgrade, which poses a double dose of the US Treasuries and dollar 'pain trade' looks set to put traders in the region on the defensive on Wednesday. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was down 0.57 per cent. Japan's Nikkei tanked 1.44 per cent; Australia's ASX 200 dropped 0.66 per cent; New Zealand's DJ added 0.16 per cent; China's Shanghai shed 0.09 per cent up; Hong Kong's Hang Seng fell 0.26 per cent and South Korea's Kospi plunged 0.90 per cent.

Oil prices rise sharply
Oil prices rose more than 1 per cent on Wednesday, trading near their highest since April, after industry data showed a much steeper-than-expected draw last week in crude oil inventories in the US, the world's biggest fuel consumer. Brent crude futures for October rose 92 cents, or 1.1 per cent, to $85.83 a barrel by 0001 GMT, while US West Texas Intermediate crude climbed 84 cents, or 1.03 per cent, to $82.21 a barrel.

Dollar shaky after downgrade
The dollar struggled to make headway on Wednesday after a cut on the US government's top credit rating by Fitch raised questions about the country's fiscal outlook, though it drew some support from a relatively resilient run of economic data. That nudged the greenback lower, lifting the euro toward $1.10. The single currency was last 0.11 per cent higher at $1.0996, after earlier touching a session-high of $1.1020. Sterling similarly gained 0.05 per cent to $1.2782, while the US dollar index was last 0.09 per cent higher at 102.09.  The Japanese yen was roughly 0.1 per cent stronger at 143.21 per dollar.

Fitch downgrades US foreign currency ratings
Ratings agency Fitch on Tuesday downgraded the United States' long-term foreign currency ratings to AA+ from AAA, reflecting expected fiscal deterioration over the next three years as well as a high and growing general government debt burden. US Treasury yields edged down in Tokyo on Wednesday after ratings agency Fitch lowered the country's top credit rating. The 10-year Treasury note declined about 3.2 basis points (bps) to 4.015 per cent, retracing part of its 9 bps rise from Tuesday.

US stocks ended mostly lower
The S&P 500 and Nasdaq closed weaker on Tuesday, the first day of seasonally slow August, ahead of US jobs data and major companies' earnings reports later this week.US stocks ended July on a strong footing, as investors welcomed better-than-expected earnings. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 71.15 points, or 0.2 per cent, to 35,630.68. The S&P 500 lost 12.23 points, or 0.27 per cent, at 4,576.73 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 62.11 points, or 0.43 per cent, to 14,283.91.

Q1 results today
Titan Company, InterGlobe Aviation, Ambuja Cements, Mankind Pharma, Adani Wilmar, Indian Overseas Bank, Aditya Birla Capital, Godrej Properties, Hindustan Petroleum Corporation, Gujarat Gas, AIA Engineering, SKF India, Carborundum Universal, Narayana Hrudayalaya, Sheela Foam, Firstsource Solutions, Engineers India, KSP, VIP Industries and Sapphire Foods India are among the companies that will announce their earnings for the June 2023 quarter during the day.

Stocks in F&O ban
Three stocks- Hindustan Copper, Piramal Enterprises and Indiabulls Housing Finance- has been put under the F&O segment ban by the National Stock Exchange (NSE) for Wednesday, August 2. Derivative contracts in a security are banned when it crosses 95 per cent of the market-wide position limit (MWPL). No new positions can be created in the derivative contracts of said security. This prohibition is lifted when the open interest in the stock drops below 80 per cent of the MWPL across exchanges.

FPIs offload shares worth Rs 93 cr
Provisional data available with NSE suggest that FPIs turned net sellers of domestic stocks to the tune of Rs 92.85 crore on Tuesday. However, domestic institutional investors (DIIs) turned net buyers of Indian equities to the tune of Rs 1,035.69 crore.
 
Rupee rises 7 paise against US dollar
Rupee paired initial losses and settled 7 paise higher at 82.22 against US dollar on Tuesday amid a muted trend in domestic equities. Forex traders said the rupee witnessed range-bound movement as the dollar index moved higher and Asian currencies moved lower against the American currency.

Note: With inputs from PTI, Reuters and other agencies

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