Key benchmark indices are trading lower in early trade on selling pressure in index pivotals. At 9:25 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was down 221.50 points or 0.4% at 55,727.60. The Nifty 50 index was down 47.25 points or 0.28% at 16,589.65. Investors remained cautious ahead of the Federal Reserve's annual Jackson Hole symposium and geopolitical tension over Afghanistan.
The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index was up 0.08%. The S&P BSE Small-Cap index was down 0.13%.
The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, is strong. On the BSE, 1251 shares rose and 1193 shares fell. A total of 119 shares were unchanged.
Stocks in news:
Infosys fell 1.1%. Infosys Public Services Inc. (IPS), a subsidiary of Infosys announced that it will enable Manitoba Public Insurance (MPI), a Crown corporation that delivers auto insurance and driver services, to digitize driver licensing, vehicle registration, and International Registration Plan (IRP) services for over 900,000 Manitobans.
Wipro slipped 0.25%. Wipro announced a global strategic partnership with DataRobot, a leader in Augmented Intelligence. The partnership will deliver Augmented Intelligence at scale, to help customers become AI driven enterprises, and accelerate their business impact.
Aurobindo Pharma rose 0.49%. Aurobindo Pharma announced that its subsidiary Eugia Pharma Specialities (Eugia) has received a 505(b)(2) NDA approval from the U.S.Food & Drug Administration (USFDA) for its Cyclophosphamide Injection 500 mg/2.5 mL and 1 g/5 mL vials.
Jindal Poly Films advanced 2.57%. Jindal Poly Films said the company has acquired 100% shares of Jindal India Solar Energy and consequent thereof Jindal India Solar became wholly-owned subsidiary.
Bhel gained 0.96%. A Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) was signed between Bharat Heavy Electricals (Bhel) and JSC Rosoboronexport. The MoU aims to cooperate and implement possible joint projects and activities with Bhel for joint production of spare parts and components for Russian-origin equipment installed onboard the Indian Navy Aircraft Carrier "Vikramaditya" and maintenance of systems and equipment of Aircraft Carrier "Vikramaditya and on other issues of mutual interest.
ADF Foods fell 0.31%. ADF Foods said its board approved the company's Wholly Owned Subsidiary, ADF Holdings (USA) would be making an investment upto $5 million, which would entail asset purchase and setting up of a step down subsidiary in the United States. ADF Holdings (USA) will have a 70% stake in the share capital of the proposed Step Down Subsidiary.
Global Markets:
Overseas, Asian stocks are trading mixed on Friday as investors remained cautious ahead of the Federal Reserve's annual Jackson Hole symposium and geopolitical tension over Afghanistan.
Traders were eying new developments in Afghanistan, which added to the risk-off sentiment. At least 60 Afghans and 13 US soldiers were killed on Thursday after two suicide bombers and several gunmen attacked crowds flocking to the Kabul airport in Afghanistan, as per reports. A further 15 US troops and more than 150 civilians were also injured in the attack. ISIS-K has reportedly claimed responsibility for the bombings at the Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul and a hotel nearby.
Profits at China's industrial firms grew at a slower rate of 16.4% on year to 703.67 billion yuan ($108.6 billion) in July, the statistics bureau said on Friday, as elevated commodity prices and supply chain constraints from extreme weather weighed on the sector. The July growth rate compared with a 20% gain in the previous month. The pace of growth has been slowing for five consecutive months.
In US, the S&P 500 fell from a record on Thursday as investors awaited more details on the Federal Reserve's plan to pull back on monetary stimulus from the central bank's annual symposium on Friday.
On the data front, weekly initial jobless claims came in at 353,000, the Labor Department reported Thursday, a slight increase from the prior week's 349,000.
Economic growth totaled 6.6% in the second quarter, according to the Commerce Department's second reading released on Thursday. That was a slight revision upward from the 6.5% annual increase previously reported.
The highly anticipated Jackson Hole symposium from the Fed will be held virtually this year on Friday, with many central bank speakers making remarks to the media beginning Thursday. At the event, central bankers could provide updates on their plan around tapering the Fed's monthly bond purchases.
Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell is slated to make remarks on Friday as part of the central bank's summit. The Fed has been purchasing at least $120 billion of bonds per month to bolster the economy in reaction to the pandemic.
Back home, the domestic equity barometers ended flat with some positive bias on Thursday. The barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, rose 4.89 points or 0.01% to 55,949.10. The Nifty 50 index added 2.25 points or 0.01% to 16,636.90.
Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) sold shares worth Rs 1,974.48 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs), were net buyers to the tune of Rs 1,055.21 crore in the Indian equity market on 26 August, provisional data showed.
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