Market may open higher

Trading of Nifty 50 index futures on the Singapore stock exchange indicates that the Nifty could rise 30 points at the opening bell.

Overseas, Asian stocks were trading lower on Monday as investors kept one eye on flaring tensions between the United States and China and another eye on US fiscal stimulus after talks between the White House and Democrat lawmakers broke down. Japanese and Singaporean markets are closed for public holidays.

In US, the S&P 500 retreated from a near six-month high in choppy trading on Friday with data showing a sharp slowdown in US employment growth, while US-China tensions escalated with President Donald Trump's move to ban WeChat and TikTok.

U.S. President Donald Trump signed two executive orders banning WeChat, owned by Chinese tech giant Tencent, and TikTok in 45 days' time while announcing sanctions on 11 Chinese and Hong Kong officials.

Trump signed a series of executive orders to extend unemployment benefits after talks with Congress broke down. The orders would provide an extra $400 per week in unemployment payments, less than the $600 per week passed earlier in the crisis.

In economic data, the US economy added 1.8 million jobs in July, far fewer than in May and June, according to government data released Friday. The unemployment rate fell to 10.2% from 11.1% in June, still slightly worse than the depth of the global financial crisis in October 2009. However, the Labor Department said some workers continue to be misclassified, and the jobless rate would have been a full point higher than reported.

Back home, domestic equity benchmarks ended a lackluster session with tiny gains on Friday. Gains were capped due to weakness in IT shares. Rising coronavirus cases also dented sentiment. The barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex gained 15.12 points or 0.04% at 38,040.57. The Nifty 50 index rose 13.90 points or 0.12% at 11,214.05.

Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) bought shares worth Rs 397.32 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs), were net sellers to the tune of Rs 438.62 crore in the Indian equity market on 7 August, provisional data showed.

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