Markets seen under pressure; RIL, Tata Motors DVR shares in focus
Asian stocks opened lower on Thursday, tracking a sharply lower Wall Street session amid fresh concerns that the global economic recovery is running out of steam
Indian stocks are likely to be under pressure on Thursday tracking sell-off in global peers. Trends in SGX Nifty also suggest a weak opening for the benchmark indices. On Wednesday, the BSE Sensex ended at 37,668.42, down 65.66 points or 0.17%. The Nifty closed at 11,131.85, down 21.80 points or 0.20%.
Asian stocks opened lower, tracking a sharply lower Wall Street session amid fresh concerns that the global economic recovery is running out of steam.
US stocks fell on Wednesday after data showed business activity slowed in September, with gains at factories more than offset by a retreat at services industries. Investors now await weekly data due later on Thursday, which is expected to show US jobless claims fell slightly but remained elevated, indicating the world's largest economy is still far from recovering.
The data comes after a Federal Reserve official said it will be hard to boost employment without further government stimulus.
Additionally, a second wave of coronavirus infections in Europe threatened the economic recovery in that region pushing equities lower and propping up the safe-haven the safe haven dollar.
Oil-to-retail conglomerate Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) is said to be in the race to acquire Debenhams, a British multinational retailer operating department stores in the UK with franchise stores in other countries, Sky News reported on Wednesday.
Tata Sons Pvt Ltd, promoter of Tata Chemicals bought 2.21 million shares or 0.87% for ₹64 crore in an open market transaction on Wednesday. According to the bulk deal data on NSE, Tata Sons acquired 22,10,425 shares of Tata Chemicals for ₹287.58 apiece totalling to ₹63.57 crore.
In another transaction, Tata Sons bought 37,63,292 shares in Tata Motors DVR 'A' Ordinary representing 0.74% percent of its total paid-up equity at an average price ₹56.02 per share aggregating to ₹29.71 crore.
The government on Wednesday allowed Kotak Mahindra bank Managing Director Uday Kotak to continue as the head of bankrupt infra lender IL&FS for one more year. This is the second time that Kotak has been given an extension.
Strength in the dollar, which rallied to a two-month high on Wednesday, weighed on gold prices. The dollar index rose 0.393%, while spot gold dropped 0.3% to a two-month low at $1,858.39 an ounce.
Oil prices advanced slightly after reports that inventories were down across the US but gains were muted by uncertainty about demand going forward as travel remains limited due to the pandemic.
Brent crude rose 5 cents to settle at $41.77 a barrel. US West Texas Intermediate crude gained 13 cents to settle at $39.93 a barrel.
The yield on Treasuries Benchmark 10-year rose 1.3 basis points to 0.677% on Wednesday while the 30-year bond yield rose 1.2 basis points to 1.427%.
(Reuters contributed to the story)
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