Indian markets open flat ahead of RBI policy outcome – Vedanta, HDFC AMC, Bikaji Foods among stocks to watch out for

• Indian benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty50 opened flat on Wednesday ahead of the RBI monetary policy outcome.
  
• Economic jitters impacted crude oil prices, too – the Brent crude oil fell below the $80 per barrel level for the second time in 2022.
  
• Sensex opened 11 points lower at 62,616 while the 50-stock index Nifty50 opened 4 points down at 18,639.
  
• Vedanta, HDFC AMC, Bikaji Foods are amongst the stocks to watch out for on Wednesday.
  

Indian benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty50 opened flat on Wednesday ahead of the RBI monetary policy outcome and weak cues from global markets.

SGX Nifty, an early indicator of how the Indian markets may perform, was down 26.5 points, or 0.14% early morning today. India VIX, the volatility index, was up 2.3% today at 14.04.

Sensex opened 11 points lower at 62,616 while the 50-stock index Nifty50 opened 4 points down at 18,639.

On Tuesday, indices closed lower as caution loomed ahead of the crucial Reserve Bank of India decision on interest rate hikes due today, December 7.

Rupee plunged 82 paise to close at 82.62 against the US dollar on Tuesday, marking a month’s low.

“Indian markets are likely to open on a flat to negative note on the back of weak global cues. Investors will keenly await the RBI’s bi-monthly policy outcome wherein it expects RBI to raise repo rates by ~35 basis points to 6.25%,” said ICICI Direct.

RBI could announce a 35 basis points rate hike

The Reserve Bank of India is expected to announce a 35 basis points rate hike on Wednesday.

The expectations of RBI moderating the pace of rate hikes come at a time when there are talks of the US Fed also slowing down and reflecting on the impact of the hikes so far.

India Inc., too, has sought a slowdown in rate hikes after reporting a decline in net profit growth for the September quarter – net profit of 1,917 Indian companies declined 5.4% to ₹2.18 lakh crore, while revenue grew 24% year-on-year to ₹25.6 lakh crore.

Crude oil price below $80

Crude oil price fell below the $80 per barrel level for the second time in 2022 amid concerns of economic slowdown.

“Crude will take cues from China’s Covid situation that has been haunting oil markets as well as the Russian oil cap that kicked off on Monday. With the EU embargo and the price cap on Russian oil, along with China’s Covid situation, the price might witness wild moves from one direction to another,” said Ravindra Rao, CMT, EPAT, VP-Head Commodity Research, Kotak Securities.

US and Asian markets in red

Benchmark US indices closed in the red on Tuesday fearing recession while expecting the US Fed to slow its pace of interest rate hike when it meets next week.

The benchmark S&P 500 shed 1.44% on Tuesday and closed at 3,941 while Nasdaq Composite dipped 2% to 11,014, Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 1% to close at 33,596.

Following this, Asian markets also trended lower today with the Taiwan TSEC 50 Index falling 0.59%, China’s Shanghai SE Composite declining 0.48% and Nikkei 225 falling 0.46%. Meanwhile, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was flat with a marginal decline of 0.01%.

Stocks to watch out for on Wednesday

HDFC Asset Management Company: The company’s promoter abrdn Investment Management will sell its entire 10.2% stake in the company and cease to be a co-sponsor of HDFC Mutual Fund.

Vedanta: The Anil Agarwal led company will consider raising ₹500 crore via non-convertible debentures (NCDs) on December 9 in one or more tranches.

Bikaji Foods International: The snacks company has reported 43% on year growth in consolidated net profit at ₹40.92 crore while revenue grew by 32% on year to ₹577 crore.

Maruti Suzuki: India’s largest carmaker has recalled 9,125 units of Ciaz, Brezza, Grand Vitara, XL6 and Ertiga manufactured between November 2-28, 2022, to fix a fault with the seat belt assembly.

Stocks under F&O ban on NSE

Punjab National Bank, Indiabulls Housing Finance and Gujarat Narmada Valley Fertilizers are in the F&O ban list on NSE on Wednesday.

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