Fears of domestic as well as global economic slowdown may continue to weigh on investors' sentiment today. The US manufacturing data, released yesterday, showed contraction in August for the first time since 2016 stoking fears of a global recession amid rising trade tensions between China and the United States.
Back home, investors would track Services PMI for the month of August, scheduled to be released later in the day. Manufacturing PMI, which was released on Monday, hit a 15-month low mirroring slowdown in the economy.
That apart, movement of rupee against the dollar, that hit a fresh 2019 low of 72.4 per dollar, will be tracked.
Besides, Brent crude oil price movement and investments by foreign portfolio investors and domestic institutional investors will be watched.
>> Now let's see how the global markets have performed, and what it means for Sensex and Nifty.
Asian stocks dipped early Wednesday after poor US economic soured investor sentiment already hurt by heightened trade war concerns. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was a shade lower after losing 0.85% on Tuesday. Australian stocks lost 0.8% and Japan's Nikkei fell 0.3%.
On Wall Street, the Dow Jones Index and Nasdaq closed over a per cent lower during the overnight trade on Tuesday, while the S&P500 ended 0.69 per cent lower.
Domestically, the S&P BSE Sensex tumbled 770 points or 2.06% to settle at 36,563 level on the back of weaker-than-expected GDP numbers. On NSE, the benchmark Nifty50 index ended at 10,798-mark, down 225 points or 2.04%.
Trends on SGX Nifty, however, suggest a flat to positive start for the indices.
Now, let's take a look at the top headlines for the day and the stocks that will remain in focus--
>> Sales of medium- and heavy-duty commercial vehicles crashed 60% in August
>> The value of new investment projects announced by Indian companies fell to Rs 11.30 trillion in FY19 compared to Rs 21.04 trillion in FY15.
>> Copper prices hit a two-year low as signs of global slowdown stack up
Before we close, here is a stock recommendation by HDFC Securities--
The brokerage recommends Selling Axis Bank at current market price, for the target of Rs 620, and keeping a stop loss at Rs 660 on a closing basis
 "Market Ahead, Sept 4: All you need to know before the Opening Bell")
