Quick Wrap: Nifty Media Index gains 1.99%
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Economic Times
an hour ago
- Economic Times
US stocks tick higher on rate cut hopes; earnings in spotlight
Wall Street is holding steadier on Tuesday following its see-saw ride that bracketed the weekend. ADVERTISEMENT The S&P 500 was inching up by 0.1% in early trading, coming off its best day since May, which followed its worst day since May. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 77 points, or 0.2%, as of 9:35 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.1% higher. Worries are still high that President Donald Trump's tariffs may be hurting the economy. But increased hopes for cuts to interest rates by the Federal Reserve later this year, along with a stream of stronger-than-expected profit reports from U.S. companies, are helping to support the market. Palantir Technologies helped lead the way after the provider of artificial-intelligence platforms reported a stronger profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected. The AI darling also raised its forecast for revenue over the full year, and its stock climbed 7.5% after it had already doubled for the year so far coming into the day.'We continue to see the astonishing impact of AI leverage,' CEO Alex Karp rose 4.5% after the chemical company likewise topped analysts' expectations for profit and revenue. It also raised its forecast for profit over the full year, even though it's expecting to take a $20 million hit because of tariffs in the second half of 2025. ADVERTISEMENT They helped to offset a 0.7% slip for Yum Brands after the company behind KFC, Taco Bell and Pizza Hut reported results for the latest quarter that came up just short of analysts' & Hers Health tumbled 12.2% even though the telehealth company reported a profit that topped analysts' expectations. Its revenue fell short of forecasts. ADVERTISEMENT The pressure is on companies to report bigger profits after the U.S. stock market surged to record after record from a low point in April. The big rally fueled criticism that the broad market had become too stock prices to look like better bargains, either companies need to produce bigger profits, or interest rates need to fall. The latter may happen in September, when the Federal Reserve has its next meeting. ADVERTISEMENT Expectations have built sharply for a rate cut at that meeting since a report on the U.S. job market Friday came in much weaker than economists expected. Lower interest rates would make stocks look less expensive, while also giving the overall economy a boost, but the potential downside is that they could push inflation yields sank sharply after Friday's release of the jobs report, and they haven't recovered. The yield on the 10-year Treasury was holding at 4.22%, where it was late Monday and down from 4.39% just before the release of the jobs report. ADVERTISEMENT In stock markets abroad, indexes rose across much of Europe and Asia. India's Sensex was an outlier and dipped 0.4% on concerns over trade tensions with the United States as the Trump administration pushes for cutbacks in the country's oil purchases from Russia. (You can now subscribe to our ETMarkets WhatsApp channel)
Time of India
2 hours ago
- Time of India
Retail fund flows surge: Mid, smallcap schemes draw Rs 20,255cr in Q1; investors chase high returns despite expensive valuations
Retail investors are continuing to pour large sums into mid and smallcap mutual fund schemes, chasing high returns even as experts warn of stretched valuations and recommend a shift to safer ground. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now According to data from the Association of Mutual Funds in India (AMFI), investors allocated Rs 20,255 crore into mid and smallcap schemes in the first quarter of FY26—accounting for 30% of total equity inflows of Rs 66,689 crore during the period. Over the past 12 months, retail investments into these funds stood at Rs 90,075 crore, making up 23% of total equity flows of Rs 3.9 lakh crore, ET reported. 'A lot of retail investors continue to chase past performance,' said Harshvardhan Roongta, principal financial planner at Roongta Securities. 'Returns from mid and smallcap funds for three and five-year periods have been very high compared to large caps, which has kept investor interest intact.' According to Value Research data, midcap mutual funds have delivered 21.3% average returns over the past three years and 27.4% over five years. Smallcap funds did even better, with 21.94% returns over three years and 31.28% over five. In comparison, Nifty 50 returned 13.55% and 18.58% over the same periods. 'Investors are looking to get exposure to some of the faster-growing segments of the economy, reflected in their preference towards midcap and smallcap funds,' said Dikshit Mittal, senior fund manager – equity, LIC Mutual Fund. ICICI Prudential Mutual Fund noted in its July outlook that both midcap and smallcap indices continue to trade at valuation multiples far higher than historical averages. While valuations have eased slightly since their September 2024 peaks, they remain elevated. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now The price-to-earnings (PE) ratio for the Nifty Smallcap 250 stands at 32 and Nifty Midcap 150 at 33.4—significantly higher than Nifty 50's 21.7, ET report said. A Whiteoak Capital study showed that while large caps currently trade at a 10% discount to their five-year average, midcaps are at a 14% premium and smallcaps at a 28% premium to long-term averages. Given this, wealth managers are urging caution. 'Aggressive investors should allocate only 10–15% of their equity portfolio to the mid and small cap space,' said Vishal Dhawan, founder, Plan Ahead Wealth Advisors. Dhawan advised investors to stagger their investments through SIPs and maintain a long-term horizon of at least 10 years to avoid potential disappointment. (Disclaimer: Recommendations and views on the stock market and other asset classes given by experts are their own. These opinions do not represent the views of The Times of India) Stay informed with the latest business news, updates on bank holidays and public holidays.
The Print
2 hours ago
- The Print
Stock markets slide ahead of RBI policy decision, selling rush in RIL, HDFC Bank
The broader NSE Nifty fell 73.20 points or 0.30 per cent to close at 24,649.55. During the session, it slipped by 132.45 points or 0.53 per cent to 24,590.30. The 30-share BSE Sensex fell by 308.47 points or 0.38 per cent to close at 80,710.25. During the day, it declined 464.32 points or 0.57 per cent to hit an intraday low of 80,554.40. Mumbai, Aug 5 (PTI) Equity market benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty ended lower on Tuesday amid selling in oil & gas and banking shares ahead of the Reserve Bank's monetary policy announcement. Among Sensex shares, Adani Ports, Reliance Industries, Infosys, ICICI Bank, Eternal, BEL, HDFC Bank, Power Grid, ITC and Sun Pharmaceutical were the major laggards. However, Titan, Maruti, Trent, Bharti Airtel, Bajaj Finance, Tech Mahindra, State Bank of India, L&T, HCL Technologies and NTPC were among the gainers. The BSE smallcap gauge went lower by 0.27 per cent and the midcap index by 0.14 per cent. Among sectoral indices, Oil & Gas fell by 0.96 per cent, Energy by (0.74 per cent), FMCG by (0.61 per cent), Services and Focussed IT by (0.59 per cent each), IT and Realty by (0.52 per cent each) and Healthcare by (0.48 per cent). Auto, Power, Capital Goods, Commodities, Industrials, Consumer Durables, Metal and Telecommunication were the only gainers. 'Despite positive global cues, domestic markets remained rangebound in negative territory. Oil & gas stocks led the decline amid concerns about future import restrictions on Russian oil. Weakness persisted on Pharma and IT stocks which are among the largest exporters to the US. Sentiment was also weighed by INR depreciation. 'In contrast, auto stocks continue to gain traction from July volumes,' Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Investments, said. Investors are now awaiting the upcoming RBI policy decision, where market has marginal expectations of a rate cut, in the near-term. Currently, the preferences of investors are for domestic consumption-driven stocks and sectors holding limited volatility to external factors, Nair added. The RBI Governor Sanjay Malhotra-headed rate-setting panel started the three-day deliberations to decide the next bi-monthly monetary policy on Monday. The six-member monetary policy committee (MPC) will announce the outcome on Wednesday. According to Ajit Mishra, SVP, Research at Religare Broking, 'Lingering uncertainty over the tariff situation, following recent statements from the US President, along with a lack of major positive surprises from the earnings season, has been weighing on market sentiment.' In Asian markets, South Korea's Kospi, Shanghai's SSE Composite index, Hong Kong's Hang Seng and Japan's Nikkei 225 index closed in the positive territory. The European markets were trading in green. The US markets ended higher on Monday. Global oil benchmark Brent crude declined 1.02 per cent to USD 68.06 a barrel. Foreign Institutional Investors offloaded equities worth Rs 2,566.51 crore while domestic institutional investors purchased equities worth Rs 4,386.29 crore on Monday, according to exchange data. On Monday, the 30-share Sensex gained 418.81 points to settle at 81,018.72, and the NSE Nifty jumped by 157.40 points to close at 24,722.75. PTI HG HVA This report is auto-generated from PTI news service. ThePrint holds no responsibility for its content.
