The Indian equity benchmarks are set to open lower on Thursday as indicated by the Nifty Futures traded on Singapore Exchange. Nifty Futures on Singapore Exchange also known as SGX Nifty Futures fell 0.22 per cent or 39 points to 17,471 amid weak global cues.
Asian Markets
Most of the Asian markets were trading lower with Japan's Nikkei down 1.52 per cent, Hong Kong's Hang Seng fell 0.82 per cent, Taiwan Weighted declined 1.68 per cent and South Korea's KOSPI fell 1.49 per cent.
US Markets
A choppy day of trading ended Wednesday with a broad slide for stocks as Wall Street closed the books on a rocky August that started off strong, but wound up leaving the market deeper in the red for the year.
The S&P 500 fell 0.8 per cent, extending its losing streak to a fourth day. The benchmark index ended the month with a 4.2. per cent loss after surging 9.1 per cent in July.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.9 per cent, while the Nasdaq composite slid 0.6 per cent. The major stock indexes are on pace for weekly losses.
Technology stocks and big retailers were among the heaviest weights on the market. Only communications stocks eked out a slight gain. Smaller company stocks also fell, pulling the Russell 2000 index 0.6 per cent lower.
The latest pullback for stocks came as Treasury yields rose broadly. The yield on the 10-year Treasury, which influences interest rates on mortgages and other consumer loans, rose to 3.17 per cent from 3.11 per cent late Tuesday.
Gold and Crude Oil Price Check
Benchmark U.S. crude oil for October delivery fell $2.09 to $89.55 a barrel Wednesday. Brent crude for October delivery fell $2.82 to $96.49 a barrel.
Gold for December delivery fell $10.10 to $1,726.20 an ounce. Silver for December delivery fell 40 cents to $17.88 an ounce and December copper fell 3 cents to $3.52 a pound.
The dollar rose to 138.73 Japanese yen from 138.67 yen. The euro rose to $1.0045 from $1.0021 cents.
Foreign Flows
Foreign institutional investors bought shares worth Rs 4,157 crore on Tuesday while domestic institutional investors bought shares worth Rs 657 crore.
Reliance Industries, ONGC: The government has hiked the windfall profit tax on the export of diesel to Rs 13.5 per litre and on jet fuel exports to Rs 9 a litre, besides raising the levy on domestically-produced crude oil in line with the hardening of global prices.
At the fourth fortnightly review, the government raised the windfall profit tax on the export of diesel to Rs 13.5 per litre from Rs 7 per litre. The tax on Aviation Turbine Fuel (ATF) exports too has been hiked to Rs 9 from Rs 2 per litre with effect from September 1, according to a finance ministry notification issued late Wednesday night.
Tata Steel: Domestic steel maker Tata Steel on Wednesday said it will go for implosion of an obsolete unit at its non-operational coke oven facility in Jamshedpur on September 4.
The move is aimed at introducing advanced environment-friendly new coke oven unit.
In the coming months, the domestic steel maker will go for implosions of three more obsolete units -- a coal tower and two chimneys at the coke oven facility.
SpiceJet: SpiceJet, which is facing headwinds, on Wednesday reported widening of net loss to Rs 789 crore in the June quarter as high fuel prices and rupee depreciation adversely impacted the budget carrier.
Amid the financial turmoil, the airline plans to raise USD 200 million, which is around Rs 1,600 crore at current exchange rates and expects to complete the hiving-off of its profitable cargo business into a separate company in the current quarter.
MTNL: Loss-making state-owned telecom firm MTNL has defaulted on an interest payment of Rs 35.15 crore to Union Bank of India, which was due to be paid in July, the company said in a regulatory filing.
The company is reeling under a total debt of Rs 27,330 crore.
Ashok Leyland: Ashok Leyland, the flagship brand of the Hinduja Group, on Wednesday announced bagging orders from major fleets for 1,400 school buses in the UAE, the company’s largest ever supply of school buses in this country.
The total fleet deal worth AED 276 Million (USD 75.15 million) for the GCC-made buses has been bagged by Chennai-based Ashok Leyland’s UAE distribution partners, Swaidan Trading - Al Naboodah Group.
Most of the supplies will be made to Emirates Transport and STS Group, a statement from the company said.
