Indian shares may open higher on Tuesday on hopes of renewed policy action from the government after the monsoon session of Parliament ends on September 7. Having said that, much will hinge on rupee movement and consumer price inflation data for July due later in the day.
Indian shares posted modest gains last week, with benchmark indexes Sensex and the Nifty rising less than a percent during the truncated week after the Comptroller and Auditor General's (CAG) report on allocation of coal blocks pegged loss to the exchequer at a whopping Rs.1.86 lakh crore.
Corporate News
Uninor, a joint venture between Norwegian telecom operator Telenor and Indian realty firm Unitech, said its majority shareholder Telenor had settled all of its loans amounting to Rs. 9809 crore after lenders turned down its request for extension of loans.
With oil prices rising to a three-month high in international markets, the petroleum ministry and state oil firms plan to raise diesel and petrol prices next month, reports suggest.
Over a million employees of 27 public sector banks have threated to go on a two-day nation-wide strike from August 22 against the proposed reforms in the banking sector.
Maruti Suzuki India's Manesar plant will resume partial operations today amid heavy security.
Pharmaceutical and biotech firm Wockhardt said it has received the U.S. food and drug administration approval for marketing a generic version of 200mg tablets containing Entacapone, which is used in the treatment of Parkinson's disease.
Pharmaceutical packaging solutions provider Bilcare has signed a definitive agreement with United Drug Plc for the sale of its global clinical supplies (GCS) businesses in the U.S. and the U.K.
Asian Markets
Asian markets are rising across the board, albeit posting modest gains, on hopes for ECB action to contain the debt crisis despite ECB officials denying reports of any large-scale government bond purchases. The Bundesbank also stepped up its resistance to the ECB plan to buy billions of euros worth of Spanish and Italian government bonds.
Meanwhile, a Greek exit from the euro area would be manageable, but would be expensive, European Central Bank Executive Board member Joerg Asmussen was quoted as saying in an interview with the Frankfurter Rundschau.
Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras is expected to meet some of the leaders of the currency bloc this week to request an extension of its fiscal consolidation program. Samaras is expected to put forward a request for a two-year extension for the country's fiscal adjustment program.
The stock markets in Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines are closed for public holidays.
U.S. And European Markets
U.S. stocks ended almost unchanged overnight, with a lack of fresh directional cues amid little major corporate and economic news contributing to the lackluster performance. The Dow dipped 3.56 points, the tech-heavy Nasdaq edged down 0.38 points and the S&P 500 inched down 0.03 points.
European stocks also ended mostly lower, with the German DAX, France's CAC 40, Switzerland's SMI and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 losing between 0.1 percent and 0.5 percent after Germany's Bundesbank reiterated its opposition to the European Central Bank's plan to purchase more government bonds, warning that the decision to share solvency risks should be taken by governments, and not by central banks.
by RTT Staff Writer
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