STATE OF THE MARKETS


SGX Nifty announces a flat start
Shrewd futures on the Singapore Stock Exchange traded 10 points, or 0.06%, up to 17,109.50, signaling that Dalal Street was heading for a lukewarm start on Thursday.

• Technical view: Nifty50 formed a bearish candle on the daily scale on Wednesday. Analysts said the index is expected to see consolidation in the near term and advised traders to buy if it dips.
• India VIX: The fear indicator fell more than 2% to 14.18 on Wednesday from its close at 14.52 on Tuesday.

Asian stocks gain early in the session
Asian markets opened mostly higher Thursday in cautious trade after a mixed close on Wall Street, with investors anticipating US jobs data expected this week. The MSCI’s largest Asia-Pacific stock index outside of Japan rose 0.28 percent.

• The Japanese Nikkei added 0.05%
• Chinese Shanghai wins 0.15%
• Hong Kong Hang Seng up 0.86%
• The Korean Kospi fell 0.52%
• Australian ASX200 lost 1.06%

US stocks have settled in a mixed way
The Nasdaq closed at an all-time high on Wednesday, with the S&P 500 ending near its previous high, as September began with a new buy of tech stocks and private wage data, supporting the case for an accommodating monetary policy.

• The Dow Jones lost 0.14% to 35,312.53
• The S & P500 rose 0.03% to 4,524.09
• The Nasdaq zoomed 0.33% to 15,309.38

The dollar hovers at its lowest for several weeks
The dollar trailed around multi-week lows on Thursday, under pressure from weaker-than-expected US labor data as traders waited for a more comprehensive reading on jobs, which should guide the timing of the Federal Reserve’s pullback in the purchase of bonds.

• The dollar index fell to 92.497
• Euro won at $ 1.1857
• The pound climbed to $ 1.3770
• The yen rose to 109.97 per dollar
• Yuan at 6.4613 against the greenback

Oil drops as OPEC + sticks to increased supply
Oil prices fell on Thursday after OPEC + agreed to maintain its policy of gradually returning supply to the market at a time when coronavirus cases around the world are on the rise and many US refiners, a key source of gross request, remained offline. Brent crude fell 52 cents, or 0.7%, to $ 71.07 a barrel. US oil fell 56 cents, or 0.8%, to $ 68.03 a barrel.

REITs buy shares worth Rs 667 crore
Net-net, foreign portfolio investors (REITs) turned buyers of domestic stocks to the tune of Rs 666.66 crore, according to data available from NSE. The DII were sellers to the tune of Rs 1,287.87 crore, the data suggests.

MONETARY MARKETS


Rupee: The rupee ended its four-session winning streak to close 8 paise at 73.08 against the US dollar on Wednesday, as muted domestic stocks and the strengthening of the greenback abroad weighed on market sentiment.

10-year bond: The yield on Indian 10-year bonds eased 0.26% to 6.20 after trading in a range of 6.20 to 6.23.

Call rates: The weighted average overnight call rate stood at 3.18% on Wednesday, according to RBI data. It has moved in a range of 2.00 to 3.40 percent.

DATA / EVENTS TO FOLLOW

• IN Balance of Trade Prel AOT (5:50 a.m.)
• IN Exports Prel AOT (5h50)
• IN Imports Pre AOT (5h50)
• AU Trade Balance JUL (7 a.m.)
• AT Home Loans MoM JULY (7 a.m.)
• AU imports MoM JUL (7 hrs)
• US trade balance JULY (6 p.m.)
• Non-Farm Productivity in the United States QoQ Final Q2 (6:00 p.m.)
• Initial jobless claims in US 28 / AOT (6:00 p.m.)
• Unemployment claims in the United States 4-week average AOT / 28 (6 p.m.)
• Continuing Unemployment Claims in US 21 / AUG (6:00 p.m.)
• Factory Orders in USA MoM JUL (7:30 p.m.)

MACROS


Economic recovery on track
India’s economic recovery remained on track in August, with Goods and Services Tax (GST) collections remaining above Rs 1 lakh crore as automakers sold more cars year-on-year previous despite a shortage of semiconductors and parts. The demand for gasoline and diesel increased by 14% and 16% respectively, the railways carried 16.9% more freight, and the demand for electricity increased by 18.6%, suggesting greater movement of goods and people during the past month.

Confusion over the crypto tax
The tax department as well as investors face a dilemma as to how to calculate gains on cryptocurrency for tax purposes, especially as tax laws trample and conflict with certain regulations and tax is calculated on the value declared by the appraised. The main problem for taxation is that there is no clarity on what cryptocurrencies are. That is, whether it is a currency, an asset, a commodity or something else. Until this is articulated, investors and traders will be able to bypass taxation. The other problem is that tax rates can also be different for someone who is an investor and someone who trades for a living.

Sebi plans standards for digital gold trading
The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) plans to regulate online transactions of digital gold now sold by various financial technology companies and brokerage houses, two people with first-hand knowledge of the matter told ET. The capital markets watchdog seeks to fill the regulatory void in an asset class that is becoming increasingly popular with new age investors.

RBI to set up a panel on NUE licenses
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will set up a committee to review applications and make recommendations on new umbrella entity (NUE) licenses, ET reported. NUEs will establish their own payments infrastructure to compete with National Payments Corp. of India (NPCI).