Opening Bell:
Gift Nifty is up by 2.5 points in the early morning trade, indicating a positive opening for Indian stock market.
Asia-Pacific markets rose across the board as investors brace for China’s August factory activity data. The world’s second-largest economy is forecast to see a fifth straight month of contraction in the manufacturing sector, according to a Reuters poll. Economists polled are expecting the purchasing managers index to come in at 49.4, representing a softer rate of contraction compared with June’s 49.3. Futures for Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index stood at 18,544, pointing to a stronger open compared with the HSI’s close of 18,482.86. Japan’s Nikkei 225 advanced 0.33% and the Topix was up 0.31%, as the country saw its retail sales jump more than expected in July, climbing 6.8% year on year, compared with the 5.4% rise expected by a Reuters poll. South Korea’s Kospi rose 0.23% and the Kosdaq was 0.36% higher. South Korea’s industrial production slid 8% year-on-year in July, marking its 10th straight month of contraction. The Australian S&P/ASX 200 was 0.11% higher, on pace for a fourth straight day of gains.
S&P 500 futures were flat Wednesday night after the broad market index notched a fourth-straight positive day. Traders also digested a Salesforce earnings beat after hours. Futures for the S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 futures oscillated near the flat line. On Wednesday in the U.S., all three major indexes gained, with the S&P 500 notching a four-day winning streak, as investors assess new U.S. economic data. The broad-market index climbed 0.38%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.11%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite advanced 0.54%. Separately, U.S. annual gross domestic product growth was downwardly revised on Wednesday to 2.1% from the previous 2.4% forecast.
Stocks News:
👉Zomato: SoftBank Vision Growth Fund on 30 August sold a 1.17% stake in food delivery firm Zomato in a deal valued at ₹947 crore, news agency Reuters quoted exchange data. Part of Japan’s SoftBank Group, the venture capital sold 100 million shares at 94.7 rupees apiece in bulk deals, the report added. According to the data from the NSE, the firms who bought Zomato shares include International Monetary Fund, Morgan Stanley Asia Singapore, Societe Generale, Goldman Sachs (Singapore), Invesco Mutual Fund and Kotak Mahindra Life Insurance.
👉Verlinvest Asia Pte is likely to offload up to 12.56% stake in Sula Vineyards for Rs 539.2 crore via a block deal, CNBC Awaaz reported on August 30, citing sources. The base price of the block deal is expected to be around Rs 473 apiece. Verlinvest Asia Pte, an investment company that invests in digital and e-commerce, food, beverages, and health and care sectors, will sell the shares at a price in the range of of Rs 473-508.7 apiece, the sources added. The share sale price range corresponds to a 0 to 7% discount to the Sula Vineyard stock’s closing price of Rs 508.70 on the NSE on August 30.
👉BHEL/NTPC: In a regulatory disclosure dated August 30, BHEL announced that it had secured a contract from NTPC, a state-owned power producer. The contract pertains to the establishment of the 2×800 MW Supercritical Thermal Power Project Stage-II situated at Lara in Chhattisgarh. Adding more insights regarding the NTPC contract achievement, the publicly-owned engineering company elaborated that the contract encompasses tasks such as design, engineering, manufacturing, supply, construction, erection, testing & commissioning for the EPC package.
👉Aeroflex Industries: Ashish Kacholia-backed Aeroflex Industries Ltd is set to make its stock market debut on Thursday. The IPO of Aeroflex Industries, the manufacturer of metallic flexible flow solution products, received a strong investor response during its subscription period from August 22 to August 24. Aeroflex Industries IPO raised ₹351 crore from the initial share sale. The current trends in the grey market indicate a strong listing for Aeroflex Industries shares on BSE and NSE.
👉Foreign institutional investors (FII) sold shares worth Rs 494.68 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DII) purchased Rs 1,323.24 crore worth of stocks on August 30, provisional data from the National Stock Exchange (NSE) showed.
Domestic and International Events
- The government has decided to extend the Rs 25,938-crore production-linked incentive scheme for the automotive sector by one year, Union Heavy Industries Minister Mahendra Nath Pandey said on Tuesday. Post extension, the five-year scheme, originally in place from 2022-23 to 2026-27, will be active until 2027-28. At present, incentives are applicable under the scheme for determined sales of Advanced Automotive Technology (AAT) products (vehicles and components) manufactured in India from 1 April 2022 onwards for a period of five consecutive years.
- The expiry day of S&P BSE Bankex derivatives contracts will be revised to Monday effective October 16, the Bombay Stock Exchange said in a circular dated August 30. The existing expiry day of Bankex contracts is Friday. “New contracts of S&P BSE Bankex with Monday expiry will be generated on October 13, 2023 end of day and will be available for trading with effect from October 16, 2023,” the exchange said. Meanwhile, the expiry day of Sensex derivative contracts has not been changed from Friday.
- Oil prices extended gains on Wednesday after U.S. government data showed tighter-than-expected crude supplies in the world’s biggest fuel consumer, while a hurricane in the Gulf of Mexico kept investors on edge. Brent crude futures for October rose 21 cents to $85.70 a barrel. The October contract expires on Thursday and the more active November contract was at $85.13, up 22 cents.
- Gold hit its highest in nearly a month on Wednesday, as a fresh batch of weak U.S. economic readings reinforced the view that the Federal Reserve may have to hit pause on its interest rate hikes. Spot gold rose 0.5% to $1,945.81 per ounce, just below its highest since Aug. 2. U.S. gold futures also rose 0.5% to $1,974.00.
Key Equity Indices
| EMERGING | LATEST | % 1D |
| Hang Seng | 18,483 | (0.0) % |
| Shanghai Composite | 3,137 | 0.0 % |
| DEVELOPED | LATEST | % 1D |
| Dow Jones | 34,853 | 0.9 % |
| DAX | 15,931 | 0.9 % |
| FTSE 100 | 7,465 | 1.7 % |
| Nikkei | 32,227 | 0.2 % |
| Straits Times | 3,223 | 0.3 % |
