Trends on SGX Nifty indicate a cautious opening for the index in India with a 7 points loss. The Nifty futures were trading at 16,552 on the Singaporean Exchange around 07:30 hours IST.

Indian markets could open flat to mildly lower, in line with mildly lower Asian markets today and mixed US markets on Monday, said Deepak Jasani, Head-Retail, ICICI Securities.

The Nifty is expected to open flat around Monday'ss close at 16,550. Nifty has support at 16,480 and 16,450 levels. On the higher side, Nifty may test 16,600 and 16,700 in the next few trading session," said.Gaurav Udani, Founder and CEO, ThincRedBlu Securities.

Nifty opened flat on August 16 and rose gradually to make an intra day high at 1450Hrs. In the process it made another all time high and is leading the Asian markets for the day. The high low range of 109 points is the lowest in 10 days. At close, the Nifty was up 34 points or 0.21% to 16563. This was the third consecutive rise for the Nifty.

Jasani said, "Advance decline ratio continued to be weak. This along with lower-than-recent-average volumes on August 16 suggests that action is concentrated in a few scrips. Nifty could continue its gradual grind upwards, while the broader market continues to see rotational profit booking."

Mohit Nigam, Head - PMS, Hem Securities, said, "Shares in Asia-Pacific were mostly lower in Tuesday morning trade despite gains overnight on wall street that took the Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 to record closing highs. US Indices closed at record high Dow Jones closed at (+) 0.31 percent and S&P 500 closed at 0.26 percent. Crucial support for Nifty 50 is 16,400 while Nifty may face some resistance at 16,700", he said.

Stock-specific action can be witnessed in stocks such as Lupin (Received Tentative approval from US FDA for Brivaracetam Tablets) and Infosys (Agreed to invest an additional sum $0.45 million in Tidal Scale Inc.) Oil Settles lower, pares losses despite weak economic data and gold holds steady near one-week high on virus woes, added Nigam.

Asian shares down in early trade

Asian shares declined in early trade on Tuesday as growing anxiety over the spike in the Delta variant of COVID-19 infections and turmoil in Afghanistan eclipsed overnight strength on Wall Street.

Shares in Asia-Pacific were mostly lower in Tuesday morning trade despite gains overnight on Wall Street that took the Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 to record closing highs. Nikkei 225 gained 0.18 percent in morning trade while the Topix index slipped fractionally. South Korea’s Kospi declined 0.57 percent.

US stocks close at record levels

US stocks ended at records Monday, with the S&P 500 booking its biggest daily percentage comeback since March 25, despite earlier losses tied to weaker-than-forecast Chinese economic data and the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan.

The Dow recorded its biggest daily percentage comeback since May 4 to end at a record, but the Nasdaq Composite closed lower. Investors managed to shrug off new concerns about China's economy, the coronavirus Delta variant and turmoil in Afghanistan to largely drive stocks higher

Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 74.12 points, or 0.21 percent, at 35,441.26. The S&P 500 was down 15.06 points, or 0.34 percent, at 4,452.94, and the Nasdaq Composite was down 127.02 points, or 0.86 percent, at 14,695.88,

In the US, the New York Fed’s Empire State business conditions index in August lost nearly all of its record-setting gains from the prior month. The headline general business conditions index fell to 18.3 in August, from 43, the regional Fed bank said Monday. Economists expected a reading of 30, according to Econoday.

Bill to regulate cryptocurrency

The Union Cabinet is soon expected to take up a bill to regulate cryptocurrency and its growing market in India, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on August 16.

"Cabinet note is ready on cryptocurrency bill. I am awaiting Cabinet to clear that," Sitharaman said during an interaction with reporters.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on August 16 that she expects retail inflation to be within the Monetary Policy Committee's (MPC) target range going ahead.

"There has been constant monitoring of essential goods and their supplies and all supply constraints are being dealt with. Going ahead, I expect inflation to remain well within the comfort range," she said.

Oil prices down

Oil prices settled lower on Monday, paring steep losses on weak Chinese economic data after sources told Reuters that OPEC and its allies believe the markets do not need more oil than they plan to release in the coming months. Brent crude settled down $1.08, or 1.5 percent, at $69.51 a barrel after earlier falling to $68.14. U.S. oil fell by $1.15, or 1.7 percent, to $67.29 after reaching lows of $65.73.

Gold steady

Gold holds steady near one-week high on virus woes. Prices were steady on Tuesday, hovering near an over one-week peak, as support from safe haven demand amid rising Delta variant cases offset pressure from a firmer dollar.

Spot gold was little changed at $1,787.90 per ounce by 0105 GMT, after hitting its highest since Aug. 6 at $1,788.97 on Monday. US gold futures eased 0.1 percent to $1,788.40.

Seven stock under F&O ban

Seven stocks - Cadila Healthcare, Indiabulls Housing Finance, NALCO, Punjab National Bank, RBL Bank, SAIL and Sun TV Network - are under the F&O ban for August 17. Securities in the ban period under the F&O segment include companies in which the security has crossed 95 percent of the market-wide position limit.

Stocks in news

Indian Terrain Fashions: SBI Mutual Fund sold 1.77 lakh equity shares in the company through open market transaction on August 13, reducing shareholding to 5.31 percent from 5.74 percent.

HLE Glascoat: ICRA has upgraded rating to A (for long term facilities) and A2+ (for short term facilities) with a stable outlook.

Lupin: The company received tentative approval from USFDA for Brivaracetam tablets, which are indicated for the treatment of partial-onset seizures in patients four years of age and older.

Star Paper Mills: The company announced resignation of Sandeep Rastogi as CFO with a notice period of 3 months.

Suven Life Sciences: Suven Life Sciences announced Phase 3 clinical trial of SUVN-502 (Masupirdine), a 5-HT6 antagonist for treatment of agitation and aggression in Alzheimer's type dementias'.