GIFT Nifty flat: Asian markets, crude oil prices, dollar movement, Q1 results & more

Domestic equity markets are set to kick off the week on a flat note. Asian stocks rallied sharply in the early trade while US stocks ended with big gains over the weekend trade. Dollar eased slightly while crude oil prices were steady. Back home, Q1 earnings and action in the primary market are likely to guide the sentiment. Here's what you should know before the Opening Bell:

Nifty outlook
Nifty on Friday settled lower for the second consecutive day. It has been trading in a downward-sloping channel and is expected to consolidate going ahead. .” It can witness a bounce towards the key hourly moving averages placed in the range 19,690-19,720 from where we expect the selling pressure to resume, said Jatin Gedia, Technical Research Analyst at Sharekhan by BNP Paribas.

GIFT Nifty signals a flat start
Nifty futures on the Nifty International Exchange traded 0.50 points, or 0.00 per cent, lower at 19,789.50, hinting at a flattish start for the domestic market on Monday.

Asian stocks open higher
Asian shares looked set to end July on a firm note in a week littered with major economic releases, central bank meetings and earnings updates from mega caps. The MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was up 0.94 per cent. Japan's Nikkei surged 1.60 per cent; China's Shanghai gained 0.89 per cent up; Hong Kong's Hang Seng soared 1.97 per cent and South Korea's Kospi jumped 0.82 per cent.

Oil prices eye big monthly gains
Oil prices hovered near three-month highs on Monday and were set to post their biggest monthly gains in over a year on expectations that Saudi Arabia would extend voluntary output cuts into September and tighten global supply. Brent crude futures dipped 9 cents to $84.90 a barrel while US West Texas Intermediate crude was at $80.41 a barrel, down 17 cents.

Dollar may post monthly loss
The yen edged steadily higher on Monday following a volatile session at the end of last week after the Bank of Japan (BOJ) loosened its grip on interest rates, and was on track to reverse three consecutive months of loss. The US dollar was conversely headed for a monthly loss on the prospect of the Federal Reserve's aggressive rate-hike cycle. The dollar edged broadly lower in early Asia trade, with the dollar index steadying at 101.62. The yen was last roughly 0.3 per cent higher at 140.77 per dollar. Sterling gained 0.04 per cent to $1.2854, while the euro rose 0.05 per cent to $1.102.

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US stocks settled higher on Friday
All three major US indices ended the week with gains, after a slew of big tech earnings, economic data and central bank announcements boosted investor confidence in a soft landing for the US economy. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 176.37 points, or 0.5 per cent, to 35,459.09, the S&P 500 gained 44.76 points, or 0.99 per cent, to 4,582.17 and the Nasdaq Composite added 266.55 points, or 1.9 per cent, to 14,316.66.

Q1 results today
Maruti Suzuki, Power Grid Corporation of India, Adani Green Energy, Adani Transmission, GAIL (India), Bosch, UPL, Oberoi Realty, Petronet LNG, KEI Industries, Navin Fluorine International, Sumitomo Chemical India, JBM Auto, IRB Infrastruture Developers, Lakshmi Machine Works, Castrol India and Kaynes Technology India are among the companies that will announce their earnings for the June 2023 quarter during the day.

Stocks in F&O ban
Only one stock- Indiabulls Housing Finance- has been put under the F&O segment ban by the National Stock Exchange (NSE) for Monday, July 31. Derivative contracts in a security are banned when they cross 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 1,024 crore
Provisional data available with NSE suggest that FPIs turned net sellers of domestic stocks to the tune of Rs 1,023.91 crore on Thursday. However, domestic institutional investors (DIIs) turned net buyers of Indian equities to the tune of Rs 1,634.37 crore. Overseas have poured in Rs 45,365 crore in the Indian equity markets between July 1-28.

Rupee falls 26 paise against dollar
The rupee plunged 26 paise to close at 82.18 against the US dollar on Friday amid renewed foreign fund outflows and negative trends in domestic equity markets. An elevated level of crude prices nearing USD 84 a barrel also weighed on the domestic unit even as the American currency gained strength on the back of better-than-expected macroeconomic data from the US, forex traders said.

Note: With inputs from PTI, Reuters and other agencies

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