China cuts 1yr benchmark rates

SGX Nifty:

Trading of Nifty 50 index futures on the Singapore stock exchange indicates that the Nifty could fall 58 points at the opening bell.

Global markets:

Overseas, Asian stocks are trading lower on Monday as concerns over aggressive Fed hikes reemerged.

The People’s Bank of China cut its one-year benchmark lending rate by 5 basis points and its five-year rate by 15 basis points, according to an online statement. That brings the one-year loan prime rate to 3.65% and the five-year LPR to 4.3%.

US stocks fell on Friday with traders anxious about inflation and what the Federal Reserve will do to combat it.

Fed Chairman Jerome Powell is expected to speak at the central bank’s annual symposium in Jackson Hole, Wyoming this week, and shed some light on the pace of future interest rate hikes.

Domestic markets:

Back home, the domestic equity benchmarks ended with steep losses on Friday. The barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, tumbled 651.85 points or 1.08% to 59,646.15. The Nifty 50 index tumbled 198.05 points or 1.10% to 17,758.45.

Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) bought shares worth Rs 1,110.90 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs), were net sellers to the tune of Rs 1,633.21 crore in the Indian equity market on 19 August, provisional data showed.