Market may open lower on subdued Asian stocks

Key indices may open lower tracking weakness in Asian stocks. Trading of Nifty 50 index futures on the Singapore stock exchange indicates that the Nifty could fall 30.55 points at the opening bell.

In overseas stock markets, Asian stocks edged lower as investors awaited US jobs data to get a clearer picture of the health of the world's biggest economy. US stocks closed mostly lower yesterday, 7 July 2016, tracking sinking oil prices, but the market pared losses late in the session as investors sought bargains ahead of the closely watched jobs report. Private-sector employment picked up a bit in June, suggesting the weak May nonfarm-payroll report may be an anomaly, Automatic Data Processing Inc. reported yesterday, 7 July 2016 and initial jobless claims fell last week to a nearly three-month low, showing no evidence of rising layoffs. The US government will announce nonfarm payroll report for June 2016 today, 8 July 2016

Closer home, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) sold shares worth a net Rs 299.51 crore yesterday, 7 July 2016, as per provisional data released by the stock exchanges. Domestic institutional investors (DIIs) sold shares worth a net Rs 159.98 crore yesterday, 7 July 2016, as per provisional data.

Among corporate news, shares of Cairn India turn ex-dividend today, 8 July 2016, for final dividend of Rs 3 per share for the year ended 31 March 2016.

Reliance Industries (RIL) will be watched. Reliance Jio Infocomm (RJIL), a subsidiary of RIL, yesterday, 7 July 2016, issued Rs 2000 crore of 5 year Non-Convertible Debentures (NCDs), bearing a coupon of 8.32% per annum, payable annually. The issue has been assigned a rating of AAA by CRISIL and 'CRA. The proceeds of the issuance shall be utilized by RJIL for rolling out a digital services business in India. The announcement was made after market hours yesterday, 7 July 2016.

The transaction was fully subscribed within minutes of opening and was eventually over-subscribed with a total book size in excess of Rs 3500 crore, Reliance Jio said. Key investors include the prominent asset management companies and banks. Reliance Jio Infocomm is the first telecom operator to hold pan India Unified License. RJIL has created next-generation voice and broadband network which can be seamlessly upgraded even to 5G and beyond.

India Meteorological Department said in its latest update yesterday, 7 July 2016 that in the week from 30 June to 6 July 2016, rainfall was above long period average (LPA) by 35% over the country as a whole. Rainfall activity was above normal over all the homogenous regions except south Peninsula, where the rainfall activity was near normal during the week. For the country as a whole, cumulative rainfall during this year's monsoon has so far upto 6 July been 1% above LPA, thus making a further recovery of 13% from the last week ending on 29 June, it added. IMD had predicted above normal rains this monsoon season. The monsoon rains is important for the farm sector, as around 70% of the country's farmlands are rain-fed. The rains have an impact on the whole economy, as rural spending on consumer goods depends on the rainfall.

Gains for index heavyweights ITC, HDFC and HDFC Bank outweighed losses for IT stocks, with the two key benchmark indices registering minuscule to small gains yesterday, 7 July 2016. The Sensex rose 34.62 points or 0.13% to settle at 27,201.49, its highest closing level since 4 July 2016.

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