Daily Market News Update — 13th-14th July 2026

Midnight News Update: 13-14 Jul 2026

Trump now proposes to charge a toll on ships to assure safe passage through the Straits of Hormuz, although it is not yet official. However, for now, the Hormuz squeeze is likely to add up to $3/bbl to India’s crude costs. There will be a spike in insurance costs and freight costs; and this is over and above any spike in crude prices. For India, the Straits of Hormuz is not just a key source for oil & gas, but also for intermediates like fertilizers. That could lead to a spike in the urea subsidy bill. In June 2026, imported inflation has already crossed 8.1%, and that could stay elevated.

India’s June CPI inflation came in sharply higher at 4.38%; well above the median RBI inflation target of 4.0%. In May, the CPI inflation was at just 3.93%. Food inflation also spiked from 4.78% to 5.32%. For the month of June, rural inflation is nearly 50 bps higher than urban inflation. Bulk of the inflation triggers are still coming from imported inflation, which was 8.1% in June. It remains to be seen how the RBI reacts to this spike in inflation, and it is likely that the RBI may be inclined to hike rates to manage inflation expectations. A lot will depend on what the Fed does.

In her meeting with the heads of public sector banks, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has asked these PSBs to enhance NRI outreach to give a big boost to FCNR(B) deposit collection. The government has already rolled out the red carpet for NRIs by shifting the currency risk liability to the RBI till end of September. This allows banks to offer attractive returns of up to 7.2% to NRIs on these deposits. As a special case, the RBI has also allowed banks to offer loans to NRIs to give a bigger boost to deposits. FCNR(B) flows can reduce bank dependences on CD market.

Exports and imports of goods were lower in June compared to May. For June 2026, exports were lower at $40.4 billion compared to $45.2 billion in May. Similarly, imports at $70.8 billion were also lower than May at $73.4 billion. As a result, the merchandise trade deficit in June was higher at $30.4 billion compared to 28.2 billion in May 2026. The pressure on imports came largely from a higher bill on oil and fertilizers. While the oil bill spiked by 40.0%, fertilizers bill spiked by 201.3%. As a result, the services surplus could only offset half the merchandise trade deficit.

For the Q1FY27 quarter, HCL Tech reported a 20% spike in net profits 4,624 crore. Revenues were up 14% yoy at 34,579 crore for the quarter. The good news is that the company has maintained its growth guidance for FY27 at 1%-4% in constant currency terms, and EBIT margin estimates at 17.5%-18.5%. For the quarter, HCL Tech reported $3.8 billion of new deal wins, including the recent $1.4 billion Mercedes Benz deal. The advanced AI business still remains quite small at under $180 million. The company also declared an interim dividend of ₹12 per share to shareholders.

With the West Asia conflict driving up costs, Asian Paints has announced a price hike of 12% to offset the spike in raw material costs. Crude oil continues to be a key input component in paints, and the cost of paints remains very vulnerable to crude prices. Rivals like Berger Paints and Kansai Nerolac have already raised prices, while others like JSW Dulux have recently implemented a 10% price hike. Apart from the spike in crude prices, the volatility in prices of petrochemicals, owing to tensions in West Asia, have also been a key factor in spiking input costs for paint companies.

Tata Capital is making a big foray into the gold loans business. It announced the acquisition of 88.6% stake in Yogakshemam Loans (YOGLOANS), a Kerala based gold loan company. This will provide the much-needed diversification to the loan book of Tata Capital, and also allow them to participate in the fastest growing segment of lending portfolio for NBFCs. The Thrissur based YOGLOANS is a small company with AUM of just ₹708 crore, but it gives the launchpad for Tata Capital to foray seamlessly into gold loans. Overall gold Loan AUM has crossed ₹3.30 trillion.

For the first quarter of FY27, D-Mart has seen weakness in growth as quick commerce has been putting pressure on physical stores. On the one hand, the existing mature stores have been seeing a clear pressure from the rapid growth of quick commerce. As people increasingly place orders for groceries on apps like Blinkit, Instamart, and Zepto; there are less footfalls at D-Mart stores. In addition, D-Mart has been in the midst of rapid store expansion and that has led to a spike in interest and depreciation costs, which has led to lower EBITDA margins for D-Mart.