Last Friday, which was the last trading day of July, saw the markets remaining in the positive for most of the day. However, towards the latter half, it corrected and closed in the negative, albeit marginally. Among sectors, IT and pharma did well but financials and FMCG stocks took the brunt of the selling. Clearly, results have not been gone down too well.

For the month of July, the Nifty ended with marginal gains of 0.26% while the Nifty Mid-Cap gave over 2.5% and the Nifty small cap gave over 8% returns. However, the advance decline ratio remained favourable at 27:23. For the month of July, it was metals that was the star sector as a combination of robust demand and favourable pricing helped.

Foreign investors were net sellers of Rs.3,848 crore on 30 Jul while the domestic institutions infused Rs2,957 core on Friday. FPIs have sold Rs.23,500 crore worth of equities in the month of July 2021 although this was also partially compensated by the flows coming in through the IPO route. However, on a net basis, they still remain sellers.

Global markets across the US and the EU were in the red. However, SGX Nifty has reacted positively and it is up 73 basis points in early trades on Monday. August month could once again see the Nifty attempting the 16,000 level on the Nifty but a lot will depend on the RBI monetary policy and the COVID cases not really spiking out of control.

In the first 4 months of FY22, 12 companies have raised more than Rs.27,000 crore via the IPO route. In addition, there is robust pipeline of IPOs worth Rs.70,000 crore worth of IPOs already lined for this fiscal year.

This week on 04 August, 4 IPOs viz. Devyani International, Windlas Biotech, Krsnna Diagnostics and Exxaro Tiles will open for subscription. In addition, a slew of digital brands like Paytm, MobiKwik, Policybazaar, CarTrade and Nykaa are also scheduled for IPOs.

The goods & services tax collections had fallen sharply in the month of June due to impact of COVID 2.0. However, the good news is that it has recovered in July. IN fact, the GST collections for July 2021 came in at a very robust level of Rs.1,16,393 crore. This is in sharp contrast to the collections of just Rs.92.500 in the month of July, which would have left revenue sources really short of target for the Indian economy.

The July collections also mark a 3-month high in inflows. However, the July GST collections typically pertain to June output, so the coming month could improve even further. GST collections had touched a record of Rs.1,41,000 crore in April, before COVID 2.0 spoilt the momentum. The signals of a recovery were there with e-way bill generation up 50% sequentially at 1.8 million. GST from imports and domestic transactions were sharply higher.

Let me address your question on the current holdings first. I trust you have already booked profits in stocks like Infosys, DLF and Aarti Industries in the last few days. Regarding your query on Dabur and Canara Bank, my suggestion is to hold on for some more time as the momentum is favour these stocks. Here is what I suggest.

· Dabur India Rs.591 (CMP – 602) – Suggest to Hold

· Canara Bank Rs.148 (CMP – 153) – Suggest to Hold

Let me now turn to fresh buying ideas for Monday 02 August. I am not giving any fresh buy calls for Monday. However, I had mentioned on last Friday about accumulating Zomato gradually in a range. Now that the stock is down to about Rs.134, it offers a good opportunity to start accumulating. You can still expect a multi-bagger over a year or so.

For the month of July, auto sales have picked up steam once again and the leaders are clearly leading the way. Maruti Suzuki sold a total of 1.36 lakh passenger vehicles or PVs in Jul-21. In addition, Maruti exported 21,224 units to other countries during July 2021. This is nearly 40% higher on MOM basis, but that is understandable as June was a depressed month with the full impact of COVID 2.0 being felt by the auto market.

Among other key players in the car market in India, Hyundai Motors sold 48,042 passenger vehicles in Jul-21 with the biggest boost to its sales coming from the Creta as well as solid response to newly launched Alcazar. For the month of July, even Tata Motors recorded 92% growth in domestic PV sales during Jul-21 at 51,981 units compared to 27,024 units sold in July 2020. Tata Motors, excluding JLR, saw good traction in India too.

Hindalco will invest around Rs.10,000 crore in its Hirakud, Silvassa and Mundra plants. Hindalco will expand flat rolling capacity at Hirakud, set up extrusions plant at Silvassa and a greenfield project at Mundra. Hindalco plans to transform aluminium vertical into EBITDA growth driver. India has very low per-capita consumption of aluminium which opens up a huge potential, especially in EVs.

Devyani International may be an unknown name, but it is better known in India by the global franchises that it manages. Devyani International is the franchisee for KFC, Pizza Hut and Costa Coffee in India. Its IPO which opens on 04 August, is targeting valuations of Rs.11,000 crore at the upper end of the price band.

The company has set a price band of Rs 86-90 per share and it will be a combination of fresh issue and OFS. The fresh issue proceeds of Rs.440 crore will be used to defray debt. Devyani operates 696 stores across 166 cities and operates via Yum Brands in India. As of now the company is making net losses, which have narrowed on yoy basis.

With Tatas willing to sink in Rs.25,000 crore into the EV project this year, obviously Ashok Leyland cannot be too far behind. Ashok Leyland is one of India’s top CV manufacturer and now it has lined up its EV roadmap. The Switch Mobility unit of ALL gets a strategic investment from **** Corp.

Switch Mobility combines the electrical CV operations of Ashok Leyland in India and Optare in UK and specializes in net zero-carbon buses and LCVs. Switch Mobility will spearhead future efforts in e-mobility/ ALL has invested $130 million with further investments of $200m lined up.