Trends on SGX Nifty indicate a cautious opening for the index in India with a 8-points gain. The Nifty futures were trading at 17,108 on the Singaporean Exchange around 07:30 AM.
Indian markets could open flat to mildly higher, in line with largely positive Asian markets today and despite mixed US markets on Wednesday, said Deepak Jasani, Head-Retail Research, HDFC Securities.
"Nifty is expected to open flat to positive at 17100 , around yesterday’s close. Nifty remains bullish as long as it trades above 16900. Trades can consider buy correction with strict stoploss for targets of 17225 and 17260 in the next few trading sessions," said Gaurav Udani, CEO & Founder, ThincRedBlu Securities.
Mohit Nigam, Head - PMS, Hem Securities, said "Markets continued to form higher high and higher low in the Nifty 50 which indicates an uptrend. We believe 17,150 is an immediate resistance in Nifty 50 and a move above this level can push the momentum towards 17,300 levels in the short term. On the downside, 16900 remains crucial support in Nifty 50."
Stock specific actions can be witnessed in stocks such as Wipro (Appointed Mohammed Areff as the country head and MD for the Middle East), SBI (raised Rs 4000 crore via local AT-1 bond issue), Kitex Garment (Telangana Govt. has approved their Rs 1000 Cr expansion plan) and Vedanta (Board Approved first interim dividend of Rs 18.5 per share).
US stocks close high
US stocks ended mostly higher Wednesday, despite an August private-sector employment report coming in below forecasts, which puts Friday’s monthly government jobs report and the timing for tapering of the Federal Reserve’s bond purchases in focus.
The Automatic Data Processing report showed a second straight month of weak jobs creation, with August adding 374,000 private-sector jobs, far below the 600,000 forecast by economists surveyed by The Wall Street Journal. The Labor Department’s more closely followed nonfarm payrolls comes out Friday.
In other US economic data, the IHS Markit manufacturing purchasing managers index posted 61.1 in August, down from 63.4 in July. The Institute for Supply Management’s manufacturing index also showed a rise to 59.9 in August from 59.5 in the prior month.
Nifty ends 3-day winning streak on September 1
Nifty ended a 3-day winning streak on September 1 and ended on a negative note after hitting record levels in the early trade. At close, the Nifty was down 55.90 points or 0.33 percent at 17,076.30.
Nifty ended the day on September 1 with a bearish formation – Dark Cloud Cover. Advance decline ratio too went marginally in the negative. The shift to largecaps seems to have played out for the time being. 17,153-17,226 could be the resistance band for the Nifty in the near term, 16,951 could be a support.
Asian stocks steady
Shares in Asia-Pacific were mixed in Thursday morning trade, with Australia’s July trade data expected later in the day.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 advanced 0.52 percent in early trade while the Topix index gained 0.26 percent. South Korea’s Kospi dipped 0.24 percent.
Oil prices fall
Oil prices fell on Thursday after OPEC+ agreed to keep its policy of gradually returning supply to the market at a time when coronavirus cases around the world are surging and many US refiners, a key source of crude demand, remained offline.
Brent crude was down by 52 cents, or 0.7 percent, at $71.07 a barrel by 0134 GMT, after dropping 4 cents on Wednesday. US oil fell 56 cents, or 0.8 percent, to $68.03 a barrel, after rising 9 cents in the previous session.
SDR holdings up in India
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has made an allocation of Special Drawing Rights (SDR) equivalent to around $17.86 billion to India on August 23, the RBI said in a press release on September 1.
With this, the total SDR holdings of India now stands at equivalent to around $19.41 billion as on August 23, 2021, the RBI said. This increase in SDR holdings will be reflected in the Foreign Exchange Reserves (FER) data that shall be published for the week ended August 27, 2021, the central bank said.
Indian Railway freight loading up in August
Indian Railways freight loading during August 2021 was 110.55 million tonnes which is 16.87 percent higher when compared to August 2020. The railways earned Rs. 10,866.20 crore from freight loading during August which is 20.2 percent higher when compared to last year. August marks the twelfth consecutive month when the Indian Railways had surpassed its highest freight loading volumes.
Unemployment figures up in August
Unemployment in August rose to 8.32 percent from a four-month low of 6.95 percent in July, data from private research firm Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy Pvt. showed Wednesday.
Asian stocks were steady Thursday after U.S. technology shares climbed in a defensive tilt to the Wall Street rally, and as traders await employment data to assess when the Federal Reserve may pare stimulus.
SEBI penalises 8 entities
Capital markets regulator SEBI has imposed penalties totalling Rs 40 lakh on eight entities, including individuals, for indulging in non-genuine trades in illiquid stock options at BSE.
In eight separate orders, the regulator levied a fine of Rs 5 lakh each on Nikita Rungta, Aakash Prakash Shah, Abha Mohunta, Aachman Vanijya, Abhi Portfolio, A C Agarwal Commodities, Vinay Ramanlal Shah HUF and Vinodkumar M Jain. The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) observed large scale reversal of trades in stock options segment of BSE.
