Asian stocks opened lower amid speculation investors are trimming some of their holdings before a rush of events in the coming days including major central bank decisions, key economic data, and earnings from US megacap companies.

Equities slipped in Japan and Australia in early trading, while futures signaled a decline in Hong Kong.

The US stock market ended Monday's choppy session mixed.

Here's a table showing how US stocks performed on Monday:

Source: Equitymaster

At present, the BSE Sensex is trading 44 points lower and NSE Nifty is trading 5 points lower.

NTPC, Asian Paints, and BPCL are among the top gainers today.

Hindalco, HDFC Life, and Bajaj Finserv the other hand are among the top losers today.

Broader markets are trading on a positive note. The BSE Midcap index is trading 0.3% higher and the BSE Smallcap index is trading 0.7% higher.

Sectoral indices are trading mixed today, with stocks in the oil & gas sector and the power sector witnessing buying. Meanwhile, stocks in the IT sector and the metal sector witnessing selling pressure.

The rupee is trading at Rs 83.73 against the US dollar.

In commodity markets, gold prices are trading 0.1% higher at Rs 68,687 per 10 grams today.
 

RVNL's New Project Win

Rail Vikas Nigam Ltd. emerged as the lowest bidder for an order worth Rs 7.4 billion (bn) from the Himachal Pradesh State Electricity Board.

The contract includes the development of distribution infrastructure in the central zone of Himachal Pradesh under the revamped reform-based and results-linked distribution sector scheme, as per an exchange filing on Monday.

Earlier on 24 July, the company received a contract worth Rs 1.9 bn from South Eastern Railway for the upgrade of the electric traction system in Jharkhand.

Tata Steel Buys Singapore Arm

Tata Steel on Monday said it has acquired over 557 crore equity shares in its Singapore-based arm for US$ 8.8 m. In May, Tata Steel's board approved the infusion of funds into T Steel Holdings Pte Ltd (TSHP), by way of subscription to equity shares in one or more tranches.

After the acquisition, T Steel Holdings will remain a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Indian steel manufacturer.

In May, the company had said that it would infuse money into its foreign subsidiary by subscribing to its equity shares and that the company plans to acquire the shares in one or more tranches during this financial year.

Tata Steel will announce its first-quarter results on 31 July and the company saw best-ever sales in the quarter-ended June.

Earlier this month, the company had said that crude steel production at Tata Steel India had risen 5% year-on-year to 5.25 million tonnes.

However, the production was lower sequentially due to planned maintenance shutdowns. The company's Indian deliveries saw a 3% growth.
 

HPCL Q1 Results

Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited on 29 July reported a consolidated net profit of Rs 6.3 bn for the first quarter of the financial year 2024-25, a decline of 90.6% from the year-ago period.

The state-run oil retailer posted a profit of Rs 67.7 bn in the same period last year.

The decline in profit was primarily due to weak gross refining margins (GRM) and higher crude oil prices from last year.

Meanwhile, the company's net profit declined 76% sequentially, as it posted a profit of Rs 2,709.31 crore in the March quarter.

HPCL said the primary reasons for lower PAT are suppressed marketing margins on select petroleum products and reduced refining margins.

The company's total income remained flat at Rs 1.21 lakh crore, compared Rs 1.2 tn last year.

HPCL's average gross refining margin (GRM) for Q1 was US$ 5.03 per barrel, against US$ 7.4 during the corresponding period last year.

The reduction in GRMs is primarily due to lower cracks in line with the trend of international product cracks, the company said in a press release.

The company's throughput was 5.7 million metric tonne (MMT) during the quarter, compared to 5.40 MMT last year.

On the marketing front, HPCL achieved quarterly domestic sales of 12.1 MMT during Apr-Jun 2024 from 11.4 MMT in last year. Exports in the quarter came in at 0.6 MMT.

HPCL invested Rs 20.2 bn during the quarter to further strengthen its refining and marketing infrastructure, including its equity investment in joint venture and subsidiary companies.

During the quarter, HPCL commissioned 126 retail outlets across the country taking the total number of outlets to 22,148.

The company also commissioned nine new LPG distributorships during the period taking the total count of LPG distributorships to 6,358.

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