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MUMBAI: India stock Markets are likely to be under pressure on Tuesday while SGX Nifty futures suggest a weak opening for domestobenchmark indices. On Monday, the BSE Sensex ended at 58,283.42, down 503.25 points or 0.86% and the Nifty was at 17,368.25, down 143.05 points or 0.82%.
Asian stocks and oil prices slipped on Tuesday as the spread of the Omicron coronavirus variant rattled investors who were already on edge ahead of a slew of central bank decisions this week, including a key Federal Reserve meeting.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was down 0.46%.
The combination of the economic risks from the Omicron variant and a potentially more hawkish tone from the Fed on Wednesday dampened risk appetite.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index was down 1%, South Korea's Kospi was 0.4% lower, Japan's Nikkei stock index was down 0.13% and Australian shares were 0.31% lower.
Back home, billionaire Anil Agarwal's mining group Vedanta has withdrawn cases in the Delhi high court as well as before an international arbitration tribunal to settle a ₹20,495 crore retrospective tax dispute with the government. Post slapping of a ₹10,247 crore tax demand on UK's Cairn Energy Plc for alleged capital gains made on a 2016 internal reorganisation of its India business, the Income Tax Department had sought ₹20,495 crore in taxes from Cairn India.
Gautam Adani-controlled Adani Enterprises paid ₹1,103 crore to state-owned Airports Authority of India (AAI) for taking over its airport assets at Ahmedabad, Mangaluru, and Lucknow, minister of state for civil aviation V.K. Singh said on Monday.
Anand Rathi will make stock markets debut on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, the Fed is expected to signal a faster wind-down of its $120 billion a month bond buying programme in a move to fight high inflation, which could move it one step closer to raising interest rates.
The dollar edged higher ahead of the upcoming meetings, with investors eyeing the possibility that the Fed will start to raise rates in 2022.
The European Central Bank, the Bank of England and the Bank of Japan are also meeting this week, and are each heading toward normalising their own monetary policies.
Fears over the Omicron variant of covid-19 were heightened after British Prime Minister Boris Johnson warned of a "tidal wave" of new cases, and the World Health Organization said it poses a "very high" global risk, with some evidence that it evades vaccine protection. read more
Oil futures eased as new doubts emerged about the effectiveness of vaccines against the Omicron coronavirus variant, though OPEC predicted in its monthly report that the variant's impact on fuel demand would be mild.
Brent futures fell 83 cents, or 1.10%, to be at $74.32 a barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude was 8 cents, or 0.11%, lower at $71.21.
(Reuters contributed to the story)
