Market Ahead, October 29: All you need to know before the opening bell

SGX Nifty slipped 50-odd points to 11,675 levels at 7:30 AM amid a global sell-off on the back of surging coronavirus cases in Europe and United States. 

Risk sentiment took a nose dive on Wednesday amid more concern around the spread of Covid-19 and renewed restrictions in France and Germany. Besides, looming large ahead is tonight’s advance report on US third-quarter economic growth. Consequently, the Dow fell 3.4 per cent, the S&P 500 lost 3.5 per cent, and the Nasdaq dropped 3.7 per cent.

Asian stocks also joined the global sell-off on Thursday, with Australia's ASX 200 falling 1.7 per cent in early trade, while Hong Kong's main index dipped 1.4 per cent. Japan's Nikkei also fell 0.6 per cent. Overall, MSCI's gauge of stocks across the globe was down 2.89%.

In commodities, oil took a big hit Thursday, falling over 5 per cent overnight to a four-month low. Brent futures fell 5.1 per cent to settle at $39.12 a barrel.

Back home, investors may need to wrestle with added volatility due to October series derivative expiry and corporate results of a string of big-ticket names.

Larsen & Toubro yesterday reported a net profit of Rs 5,520 crore for the September quarter — a number aided by one-time asset sale proceeds, but offset by impairment costs. Further, the firm also announced a special dividend of Rs 18 per share.

Axis Bank reported a net profit of Rs 1,683 crore in the second quarter, compared to a loss of Rs 112 crore in the same period last financial year, aided by a healthy growth in net interest income.

And, Hero MotoCorp oreported a 9.05 per cent rise in consolidated net profit to Rs 964 crore for the September quarter on the back of robust sales.

The stocks of all these companies are set to trade actively in today's trade.

A total of 82 companies including Maruti Suzuki, BPCL, Bank of Baroda, Vodafone Idea, and InterGlobe Aviation, are scheduled to declare their quarterly earnings today.

Analysts are building around 12-20 per cent year-on-year (YoY) growth in both revenue and profit of Maruti Suzuki, led by increase in volumes.

Meanwhile, InterGlobe Aviation-owned IndiGo airline is expected to narrow its losses sequentially during the September quarter of FY21 as analysts see more people using airlines as a means to travel amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

And, Bank of Baroda's net profit may take a hit due to lower treasury gains, flat net interest income and net interest margin, and elevated credit costs.