Important Information For August 29 Stock Trading Strategy

The Indian equity benchmarks are set to open sharply lower as indicated by the Nifty Futures traded on Singapore Exchange. Nifty Futures on Singapore Exchange also known as SGX Nifty Futures fell 2 per cent or 272 points to 17,286 amid weak global cues.

Here are key things to know before market opens on Monday:

Asian Markets

Asian shares slid on Monday as the mounting risk of more aggressive rate hikes in the United States and Europe shoved bond yields higher and tested equity and earnings valuations.

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell's promise of policy "pain" to contain inflation quashed hopes that the central bank would ride to the rescue of markets as so often in the past.

Japan's Nikkei fell 2.75 per cent, Taiwan Weighted declined 2.46 per cent, Hong Kong's Hang Seng fell 0.97 per cent and South Korea's KOSPI dropped 2.2 per cent.

US Markets

The Dow Jones Industrial Average sank more than 1,000 points Friday after the head of the Federal Reserve dashed Wall Street’s hopes that it may soon ease up on high interest rates in its effort to tame inflation.

The S&P 500 lost 3.4 per cent, its biggest drop since mid-June, after Jerome Powell said the Fed will likely need to keep interest rates high enough to slow the economy “for some time” in order to beat back the high inflation sweeping the country.

The Dow dropped 3 per cent and the Nasdaq composite ended 3.9 per cent lower, reflecting a broad sell-off led by technology stocks. Higher rates help corral inflation, but they also hurt asset prices.

The Fed has indicated it will raise rates into next year as it tries to quell demand and bring down prices for goods and services. But some investors speculated the central bank might pause or even reverse course next year if inflation subsides, leading to a rally for stocks in July and early August.

Gold and Crude Oil Price Check

Benchmark U.S. crude oil for October delivery rose 54 cents to $93.06 a barrel Friday. Brent crude for October delivery rose $1.65 to $100.99 a barrel.

Wholesale gasoline for September delivery rose 4 cents to $2.85 a gallon. September heating oil rose 6 cents to $4.01 a gallon. September natural gas fell 8 cents to $9.30 per 1,000 cubic feet.

Gold for December delivery fell $21.60 to $1,749.80 an ounce. Silver for September delivery fell 37 cents to $18.75 an ounce and September copper was unchanged at $3.70 a pound.

The dollar rose to 137.40 Japanese yen from 136.46 yen. The euro fell to 99.63 cents from 99.69 cents.

Foreign Flows

Foreign institutional investors sold shares worth Rs 51 crore on Friday while domestic institutional investors bought shares worth Rs 454 crore.

Stocks In Focus

Reliance Industries: The country's most valuable company will be in focus as its chairman and managing director will address investors later in the day on account of its Annual General Meeting which will lay out future plans of the company.

Hindustan Unilever:  FMCG distributors are upset over HUL's expansion of the distribution network in Madhya Pradesh and called for mass resignations, while the leading manufacturer said it is not removing anyone of its current distributors and value relationships with them.

The existing distributors of HUL are fearing to lose half of their investments in retail trade, if new distributors are appointed, said their umbrella body AICPDF in a statement on Sunday.

Kotak Mahindra Bank: Kotak Mahindra Bank is well positioned to capitalise on growth opportunities and it will expand its market share by targetting new customers to cross-sell products, leading to higher growth and profitability, the bank's chairman has said.

Addressing the shareholders of Kotak Mahindra Bank (Kotak) at the Annual General Meeting (AGM) on August 27, 2022, Chairman Prakash Apte said the Indian economy has started recovering to reach pre-pandemic levels, and a host of factors are driving the country's growth prospects, according to a regulatory filing by the bank on Sunday.

Vodafone Idea: Multiple vulnerabilities in the system of telecom operator Vodafone Idea has exposed the call data records of around 20 million postpaid customers, cyber security research firm CyberX9 said in a report. 

Vodafone Idea (Vi), however, said there was no data breach and potential vulnerability in its billing communication was immediately fixed after it learned about it. 

According to the CyberX9 report, the vulnerability exposed postpaid customers' call data records, comprising the time when a call was made, duration of call, location from which the call was made, customer's full name and address, SMS details comprising contact number to which it was sent, among others.

Reliance Capital: The deadline for submission of bids for debt-ridden Reliance Capital Ltd (RCL) ends on Monday amid concerns of investors over the company's most-valuable arm Reliance General Insurance Company.

IDBI Trusteeship Services Limited acting in its capacity as a debenture trustee on behalf of Credit Suisse, had invoked the pledge of Reliance Capital's 100 per cent shareholding in Reliance General in November 2019 and transferred the shares to its account.