Opening Bell:
Gift Nifty is up by 2.0 points in the early morning trade, indicating a positive opening for Indian stock market.
Asia-Pacific markets fell across the board ahead of China’s industrial data and Australia’s August inflation figures due on Wednesday. Australia’s weighted inflation rate is expected to rise 5.2% year on year in August, a predicted rebound from three straight months of decline. The Australian S&P/ASX 200 slipped 0.21% in early trade, while Japan’s Nikkei 225 dropped 0.71%, leading losses in Asia while the Topix slid 0.63%. South Korea’s Kospi was 0.12% lower, but the Kosdaq was marginally above the flatline. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index also is set for a positive open, with futures at 17,477, compared to the HSI’s close of 17,466.9.
U.S. stock futures traded near the flatline Tuesday night. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures rose by 34 points, or 0.1%. Futures linked to the S&P 500 inched up 0.1%, while Nasdaq 100 futures added 0.1%. Shares of Costco fell 2.5% in after-hours trading. For its fiscal fourth quarter, the membership club reported comparable sales grew 1.1% year over year, but advanced 0.2% in the U.S. Separately, Costco beat analysts’ expectations on the top and bottom lines for the period. During the main trading session, the 30-stock Dow fell 388 points, or 1.14%, on its worst day since March. The S&P 500 declined 1.47%, while the Nasdaq Composite slid 1.57%. These losses came after new home sales and consumer confidence data missed economists’ estimates.
Stocks News:
👉 Vedanta: Moody’s Investors Service downgraded Vedanta Resources’ corporate family rating from Caa1 to Caa2 over elevated risks of debt restructuring over the next few months. With the current downgrade, the outlook remains negative for the parent company of Vedanta.
👉 Infosys: The IT major is partnering Microsoft to enhance enterprise functions with AI-enabled solutions across multiple industries, according to a release. Both organisations will bring together their respective artificial intelligence capabilities – Infosys Topaz, Azure OpenAI Service and Azure Cognitive Services – for transitioning to AI from digital.
👉 Suzlon Energy: Dilip Shanghvi and Associates have decided to terminate the agreement with Suzlon in accordance with the terms of the agreement. Dilip Shanghvi and Associates, the investor group of the company, had entered into an amended and restated shareholders’ agreement on February 28, 2020, with the company and promoters. There would not be any impact on the operations of the company on termination of the agreement. With this, Hiten Timbadia, the investor group’s nominee director on the board of the company, has resigned as director of the company with effect from September 26.
👉 3i Infotech: The IT company has received a contract from Ujjivan Small Finance Bank, for end-user support service (workplace services). The total contract value is Rs 39.55 crore plus one-time transition charges of Rs 35 lakh. The contract is for a period of 5 years starting from October 1, 2023, to September 30, 2028, with the option to extend the contract with mutual agreement.
👉 Foreign institutional investors (FII) sold shares worth Rs 693.47 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DII) bought Rs 714.75 crore worth of stocks on September 26, provisional data from the National Stock Exchange (NSE) showed.
Domestic and International Events
- The Indian government plans to borrow ₹6.55 lakh crore in the second half of the financial year, remaining on track with its budget estimate. The borrowing will include a new 50-year security for the first time, and ₹20,000 crore will be raised through sovereign green bonds. Analysts believe this adherence to borrowing plans demonstrates fiscal prudence and should calm market nerves.
- The US consumer confidence dropped to a four-month low in September, weighed down by a deteriorating outlook for the economy and labour market amid worries about higher prices and rising fears of a recession. The Conference Board’s index declined to 103 this month from an upwardly revised 108.7 in August, data out Tuesday showed. A separate from the Commerce Department showed new home sales plunged 8.7% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 675,000 units in August after racing to a 17-month high in July.
- Oil prices slipped in trade on Tuesday amid concerns that fuel demand will be crimped by major central banks holding interest rates higher for longer, even with supply expected to be tight. Brent crude futures were down 11 cents at $93.18 a barrel at 0055 GMT and U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures were trading 1 cent lower at $89.67.
- Gold prices drifted lower on Tuesday as the U.S. dollar and Treasury yields climbed, with investors awaiting a key consumer inflation report for more cues on whether the Federal Reserve will hike interest rates once again this year. Spot gold ticked down 0.1% to $1,913.25 per ounce by 0403 GMT, while U.S. gold futures fell 0.2% to $1,932.20.
Key Equity Indices
| EMERGING | LATEST | % 1D |
| Hang Seng | 17,467 | (1.5) % |
| Shanghai Composite | 3,102 | (0.4) % |
| DEVELOPED | LATEST | % 1D |
| Dow Jones | 33,619 | (1.1) % |
| DAX | 15,256 | (1.0) % |
| FTSE 100 | 7,626 | 0.0 % |
| Nikkei | 32,315 | (1.1) % |
| Straits Times | 3,215 | (0.0) % |
