This week in a nutshell (1st August- 5th August)

Technical talks

NIFTY opened the week on 1st August at 17,243 and closed on 5th August at 17,397. The index gained 1.4% during the week. The index has managed to sustain above the 50DMA of 17,105 level, which acts as a support. On the upside, the recent high of 18,114 might act as a resistance.

Among the sectoral indices, IT (+2.8%), AUTO (+2.1%), and METAL (+2.1%) were the top gainers while REALTY (-2.9%) was the only loser in the week.

Weekly highlights

• Wall Street indices fluctuated throughout the week due to better than anticipated corporate earnings, economic data, and US-China tensions following Speaker of the US House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan, which led to China conducting military exercises near Taiwan.
• China’s factory activity contracted in July after rebounding from COVID-19 lockdowns as new virus outbreaks and a bleak global outlook weighed on demand. 
• Oil prices fell ahead of the OPEC+ meeting on August 3rd. In the meeting, it was decided that the cartel will add only 100,000 barrels a day of oil in September. Consumers feeling the inflationary squeeze due to higher oil prices won’t find much relief from the increase. Brent oil futures and WTI futures were mixed wherein the former settled 0.6% up at USD 94/ barrel and the latter 0.01% lower at USD 89/barrel. 
• The 5G spectrum auction concluded on August 2nd, with bids exceeding Rs 1.5 bn. Approximately 71% of the total spectrum was sold in the auction held through 40 rounds of bidding. The government has received bids totaling Rs 1,501,730 mn. 
• Reliance Jio was the highest bidder at the 5G spectrum auction, with bids of over Rs 880,000 mn. Bharti Airtel took 19,867 MHz for Rs 430,840 mn, while Vodafone Idea acquired the spectrum worth Rs 187,990 mn.
• Bank of England raised the interest rate by 50 bps to 1.75% despite warning that recession is on its way, even as inflation is now expected to top 13%.
• RBI in its policy meeting on Friday raised the repo rate by 50 bps. It now stands at 5.4%. The MPC also decided to remain accommodative while focusing on withdrawal of accommodation to ensure that inflation remains within the target going forward, while supporting growth.
• After nine months of relentless selling, foreign investors turned net buyers in July, investing Rs 49,890 mn in Indian equities as the dollar index fell and corporate earnings improved. This is in stark contrast to the stock market’s net withdrawal of Rs 501,450 mn in June. 
• FII (Foreign Institutional Investors) turned net buyers this week, buying shares worth Rs 54,620 mn. DII (Domestic Institutional Investors) turned net sellers by selling shares worth Rs 17,650 mn.

Things to watch out for next week

• India’s largest lender, State Bank of India (SBI), will report earnings on August 6. SBI is expected to report robust balance sheet growth, improvement in asset quality, and improved interest income.
• Investors and traders are focused on corporate earnings and announcements. The earnings of companies such as SBI, Tata Consumer, HAL, Eicher, Hero Moto, and Aurobindo may cause volatility in Indian markets. Share price moments would be driven by management comments on the impact of inflation on demand and the supply chain challenges, particularly chip shortages for 2W companies.
• With result season coming to an end next week, investors’ attention would be focused on company-specific news.

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