Stock markets on May 29: Here are key things that changed for markets overnight

The Indian equity benchmarks are set to open higher as indicated by NIFTY Futures traded at Gift City in Ahmedabad. NIFTY Futures at Gift City also known as Gift NIFTY rose 0.43% or 107 points to 24,844 amid strong cues from Asian markets.

Asian markets

Asian markets were trading higher in line with US stock futures after a federal court on Wednesday blocked President Donald Trump from imposing sweeping tariffs on imports under an emergency-powers law, swiftly throwing into doubt Trump’s signature set of economic policies that have rattled global financial markets, frustrated trade partners and raised broader fears about inflation intensifying and the economy slumping, news agency AP reported.

Japan's Nikkei rose 1.63%, China's Shanghai Composite advanced 0.57%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng gained 0.52% and South Korea's KOSPI surged 1.72%.

Following court's decision, S&P 500 Futures jumped 1.5%, Nasdaq 100 Futures surged 1.7% and Dow Jones Futures rose 1.1%.

US markets

Overnight, US stock indexes closed lower on Wednesday as investors digested minutes from the last Federal Reserve meeting and shares of chip designers fell in late trading.

After the closing bell, shares of Nvidia rose 5% as the artificial intelligence leader reported quarterly sales that beat analyst expectations. However, the chipmaker forecast second-quarter revenue below estimates.

Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 244.95 points, or 0.58%, to 42,098.70, the S&P 500 lost 32.99 points, or 0.56%, to 5,888.55 and the Nasdaq Composite lost 98.23 points, or 0.51%, to 19,100.94, news agency Reuters reported.

Stocks to watch

The company also announced the inauguration of its manufacturing plant at Shoolagiri in Tamil Nadu for powertrain and chassis components and futuristic technologies as part of its strategy to address growing market demands within the automotive industry.

After the stake sale, BAT’s shareholding has dropped to 22.94% in FMCG major ITC from 25.44% earlier. The British firm, however, still remains a significant shareholder of ITC.

According to the bulk deal data available with the NSE, Tobacco Manufacturers (India) Ltd, an arm of British American Tobacco (BAT), offloaded a total of 31.30 crore equity shares, representing a 2.5% stake in ITC.

Following this, it has passed an interim order to freeze bank, and demat accounts of the company, restrain trading of securities, and directed asset disclosures of Gensol Engineering and 16 other companies and their promoters.

Earnings reaction to watch

IRCTC’s revenue during the quarter rose to ₹1,269 crore from ₹1,152 crore a year earlier. The results were aided by a one-time gain of ₹45.68 crore.

The drug maker's revenue from operations stood at ₹1,086 crore in the quarter under review, jumping 14.3% YoY from ₹1,086 crore in the fourth quarter of FY24.

The company generated ₹1,206 crore in Q4FY25, rising 12.23% YoY from ₹1,074.6 crore in the year-ago period. Furthermore, its revenue from the agrochemical business was at ₹15 crore, as against a negative revenue of ₹63 crore in Q4FY24.

Revenue from operations climbed 2% year-on-year (YoY) to ₹1,197.4 crore as compared to ₹1,176 crore in Q4 FY24. This was due to a sustained increase in formulations' share despite a slowdown in productivity at its Gagillapur facility with ongoing US FDA remediation activities.

The company had reported profit of ₹253.8 crore seen in the corresponding period a year earlier.

The profit for the period was affected by headwinds from geopolitical tensions, elevated input prices and oversupply from China.

The company reported an operating profit of ₹58 crore for the January-March period of 2023-24 fiscal.

Revenue from operations in the quarter stood at ₹788 crore as compared with ₹798 crore in the year-ago period, Bata India said in a regulatory filing.

The PSU had posted a net profit of ₹1,125.68 crore in the January-March period of the preceding 2023-24 financial year, the company said in an exchange filing.

SAIL increased its revenue from operations to ₹29,316.14 crore in the fourth quarter of FY25 from ₹27,958.52 crore logged in the same period a year ago.

Expiry day trade setup

NIFTY50 closed in red for the second consecutive session in a range-bound trade on Wednesday. The benchmark index continues to remain in a consolidation mode with a range of 24,500 to 25,000.

On the 15-minute chart, the index trades below the 21- and 50-day EMA levels, indicating potential resistance at higher levels. However, it continues to hold the support trend line at the 24,750 levels, keeping the downside capped.

On the daily charts, the index continues to trade in the narrow trading range of 24,600 to 25,100. Experts believe that, breakout and closing above the 25,100 levels could lead to a new leg of a rally towards 25,500. On the downside, 24,500 looks like a strong support zone.

Earnings to watch

Bajaj Auto from the NIFTY50 space will declare its March quarter earnings later in the day. Alkem Labs, Amara Raja Energy, Mrs Bector Foods, Campus Actiwear, ICRA, IPCA Labs, Engineers India, KNR Constructions and Landmark Cars among others will declare their March quarter earnings on Thursday.

FII, DII activity

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) bought shares worth ₹4,662.92 crore on Wednesday and domestic institutional investors bought shares worth ₹7,911 crore in cash segment.

In futures and options segment, FIIs sold shares index futures worth ₹2,100 crore and sold index options worth ₹98,784 crore.