Market may open slightly lower

Trading of Nifty 50 index futures on the Singapore stock exchange indicates that the Nifty could fall 5 points at the opening bell.

Overseas, Asian stocks were mixed after the Bank of Japan offered to buy bonds at the first fixed-rate operation since February, in a sign the central bank was trying to rein yields. US stocks closed mostly lower on Friday, 20 July 2018 after President Donald Trump's latest verbal salvos fanned investor concern that a global trade war is escalating.

Back home,stocks edged higher on Friday, 20 July 2018 as investors awaited the outcome of a no-confidence motion against the government. The barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, rose 145.14 points or 0.40% to settle at 36,496.37. The Nifty 50 index rose 53.10 points or 0.48% to settle at 11,010.20.

The trading activity on that day showed that the foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 310.27 crore on Friday, 20 July 2018, as per provisional data released by the stock exchanges. Domestic institutional investors (DIIs) sold shares worth a net Rs 50.73 crore on Friday, Friday, 20 July 2018, as per provisional data.

On the political front, the Narendra Modi government won the no-confidence motion in the Lok Sabha on Friday, 20 July 2018 following a 12-hour debate in the Lower House. In a 451-member House that voted, 126 members voted in favour of the motion, 325 votes went against it. The no-confidence motion was brought by the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and supported by several Opposition parties including the Congress.

Among corporate news,HDFC Bank's net profit rose 18.17% to Rs 4601.44 crore on 18.85% increase in total income to Rs 26367.04 crore in Q1 June 2018 over Q1 June 2017. The result was announced on Saturday, 20 July 2018.

On a consolidated basis, Wipro's net profit rose 16.27% to Rs 2093.80 crore on 1.52% increase in net sales to Rs 13977.70 crore in Q1 June 2018 over Q4 March 2018. The result was announced after market hours on Friday, 20 July 2018.

IT services segment revenue rose 2.2% to Rs 13700 crore in Q1 June 2018 over Q4 March 2018. Wipro expects revenue from its IT services business to be in the range of $2,009 million to $2,049 million. This translates to a sequential growth of 0.3% to 2.3%, excluding the impact of the divestment of its hosted data center services business which concluded in the quarter ended 30 June 2018.

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