The markets on Wednesday morning opened lower with Sensex at 66,459.30, down by 68.36 points and Nifty was at 19,661.50 with a loss of 72 points. Asian Paints was the top gainer in the morning session, whereas Tata Steel, L&T, JSW Steel, HDFC Bank and IndusInd Bank were among the losers.
Ambuja Cements, Titan, Godrej Properties, Engineers India, AB Capital, Mankind and Vaibhav Global shares will be in focus today as they announce their first quarter results.
S&P Global Manufacturing Purchasing Managers Index
The seasonally adjusted S&P Global India Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) eased to 57.7 in July from 57.8 in June.
Despite the fall, the Indian manufacturing sector maintained strong growth momentum at the start of the third quarter amid ongoing buoyant demand, the survey said.
Markets on Tuesday
The benchmark indices ended on a negative note on Tuesday. Sensex fell 68.36 points to end the day at 66,459.31 and Nifty was at 19,737.30, down by 16.50 points. Nifty Bank slips 52.20 points to 45,598.90.
Global markets
US markets began the month with losses amid corporate earnings. On the other hand, manufacturing sector data supported hopes that the central bank may skip another rate hike in September. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.2 per cent at 35,630.68, however, the S&P 500 closed 0.3 per cent lower at 4,576.73 and Nasdaq Composite shed 0.4 per cent at 14,283.91.
The Asian stock markets were trading lower on Wednesday with Hong Kong's Hang Seng slipping 97.95 points to 19,913.17, South Korea's KOSPI saw a drop of 22.52 points at 2,644.55, Japan's Nikkei 225 fell 457.91 points to 33,018.67 and GIFT Nifty exchange shed 25.50 points to trade at 19,776.50.
Oil prices
Oil prices on Wednesday morning were trading near their highest since April after industry data revealed a steep draw last week in crude oil inventories in the US. Brent crude futures for October slipped 92 cents to $85.83 per barrel and US West Texas Intermediate crude rose to $82.21 per barrel up by 84 cents. This comes a day after both indices broke their three day winning streak on Tuesday to report losses.
Rupee
Indian rupee opened lower on Wednesday for the second consecutive day at 82.38 per dollar against Monday's close of 82.23.
