A weak opening on the cards

Trading of Nifty 50 index futures on the Singapore stock exchange indicates that the Nifty could slump 117 points at the opening bell. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced further relief measures with a focus on reviving the housing and export sectors. However, a surge in oil prices may weigh on markets adversely.

Oil prices retreated on Monday after hitting their highest since May at the open, on fears over supply disruptions following an attack on Saudi Arabia's oil facilities on Saturday that cut more than 5% of global oil supply.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday, 14 September 2019 announced a fresh set of relief measures to boost exports and housing sector. The first one is a new export promotion scheme for the remission of duties or taxes on export products. This scheme will completely replace Merchandise Exports from India Scheme (MEIS) and Rebate of State Levies (ROSL).

On the macro front, India's merchandise exports declined 6% to US$ 26.13 billion in August 2019 over a year ago. Meanwhile, merchandise imports dipped 13.4% to US$ 39.58 billion. The trade deficit narrowed 24.9% to US$ 13.45 billion in August 2019 from US$ 17.39 billion in August 2018.

India's services exports increased 8.7% to US$ 19.08 billion in July 2019 over July 2018. Meanwhile, India's services imports jumped 18.2% to US$ 12.83 billion in July 2019. India's services trade surplus declined 6.7% to US$ 6.26 billion in July 2019 from US$ 6.70 billion in July 2018.

Overseas, Asian stocks were trading mixed with Japan shut for a public holiday.

US stocks ended mixed on Friday as a drop in Apple stock countered cooling US-China trade tensions. Tariff-vulnerable industrials helped keep the blue-chip Dow in positive territory, which has now gained in eight straight sessions, its longest winning streak since May 2018.

Back home,key equity benchmarks ended the volatile session with strong gains on Friday. Rate sensitive banks, realty and auto stocks were in demand. Investors' sentiment got a boost as improving US-China trade relations and a rate cut from the European Central Bank (ECB) eased fears of a global economic slowdown. The barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, rose 280.71 points or 0.76% to 37,384.99. The Nifty 50 index rose 93.10 points or 0.85% to 11,075.90.

The trading activity on that day showed that the foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) sold shares worth a net Rs 405.45 crore on Friday, 13 September 2019, as per provisional data released by the stock exchanges. Domestic institutional investors (DIIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 209.56 crore on Friday, 13 September 2019, as per provisional data.

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