The Indian equity benchmarks are set to open lower on Tuesday, August 18, as indicated by GIFT NIFTY futures. NIFTY futures at GIFT City in Gandhinagar fell 102 points to 24,290 amid weak cues from global markets after crude oil prices moved above $90 per barrel.
The Indian equity benchmarks ended lower on Monday with NIFTY50 index declining for a fifth straight session and SENSEX dropping as much as 555 points dragged down by losses in index heavyweights like Infosys, Bharti Airtel, Sun Pharma, Tata Consultancy Services, ITC, HCL Technologies and Mahindra & Mahindra.
The SENSEX ended 281 points lower at 77,728 and NIFTY50 index declined 78 points to close at 24,288.
Asian markets
Asian markets were trading lower on Tuesday following a spike in crude oil prices.
Japan’s Nikkei fell 1.45%, China’s Shanghai Composite index declined 0.2%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng tumbled 0.72% while South Korea’s KOSPI index was trading on a flat note.
Wall Street update
US stocks ended lower on Monday as rising oil prices stoked fear of inflation and a potential rate hike by the US Federal Reserve.
Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.51%, S&P 500 index declined 0.52% and tech heavy Nasdaq plunged 0.32%.
Crude oil update
Brent crude futures surged above its psychologically important level of $90 per barrel as a deal to end the Middle East war seemed further out of sight with Iran saying it will adopt a more offensive stance and the US ruling out extending a ceasefire agreement, heightening worries about energy supply, news agency Reuters reported.
Following attacks on tankers, only five commodity vessels transited the Hormuz strait on Saturday, with none registered for Sunday, ship-tracking data from Kpler showed, versus 31 in the prior weekend.
FII/DII activity
Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) sold shares worth ₹2,535.10 crore on Monday while domestic institutional investors bought stocks worth ₹5,101.46 crore, as per NSE data.
FIIs have so far this month bought shares worth ₹20,733 crore, data from National Securities Depository Limited (NSDL) showed.
Stocks to watch
Lenskart Solutions: Eyewear firm Lenskart has set up a step-down subsidiary in China that will be engaged in the business of trading, importing, exporting and procuring spectacle frames as well as other optical products, the company said in a regulatory filing on Monday.
The step-down subsidiary has been set up under Lenskart’s Chinese joint venture Baofeng Framekart Technology (BFT).
Paytm: Paytm founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma-owned Resilient Asset Management plans to sell a 4.98% stake in One97 Communications in a block deal, according to an exchange filing.
Proceeds of the deal, however, will be retained by China-based Alibaba group firm Antfin under its existing Optionally Convertible Debenture (OCD) agreement with the seller, Resilient Asset Management, the filing stated.
Antfin had transferred its 10.3% direct stake in One97 Communications, which owns the Paytm brand, to Resilient Asset Management at a total valuation of $628 million, while the Chinese firm continued to hold economic rights in the stake.
Reliance Industries: Within a week of Bharti Airtel removing lower-priced unlimited plans, rival Reliance Jio plans to relaunch its 10-year-old Prime membership plan, which will assure customers of no tariff or plan change for the next year, company sources said on Monday.
Jio is also set to enhance benefits under a Rs 299 plan, offering 1.5 GB of data per day, in an attempt to capitalise on the recent discontinuation of unlimited plans offering 1.5 GB of data per day by rival Bharti Airtel.
Embassy Office Parks REIT: Global investment firm Bain Capital on Monday divested a 5.64% unitholding in Embassy Office Parks REIT for ₹2,325 crore through open market transactions.
US-based Bain Capital, through its affiliate APAC Company XXIII Ltd, sold a total of 5,34,51,142 units, representing a 5.64% unitholding in Bengaluru-based Embassy Office Parks REIT, as per the bulk deal data on the NSE.
The units were offloaded in the price range of ₹435.01-435.05 apiece, taking the combined deal size to ₹2,325.28 crore.
NELCO: NELCO, a Tata Group satellite communication service provider, on Monday announced a partnership and an investment of $20 million (approximately ₹191.2 crore) in US-based Lunar Holdco, Inc., which operates as Elveo Mobile.
The investment is aimed at bringing next-generation Direct-to-Device (D2D) and Internet of Things (IoT) satellite connectivity to India and South Asian markets, the company said in a regulatory filing.
Under the agreement, NELCO will subscribe to Compulsorily Convertible Debentures (CCDs) of the Delaware-headquartered Lunar Holdco. The CCDs carry a 7% annual compounded return, convertible into equity shares of the US firm based on specified conversion events.