Trends on SGX Nifty indicate a positive opening for the index in India with a 95 points gain. The Nifty futures were trading at 16,590 on the Singaporean Exchange around 07:30 hours AM.

Indian markets could open higher, in line with higher Asian markets today and positive US markets on Monday, said Deepak Jasani, Head-Retail Research, HDFC Securities.

"Nifty is expected to open around 16590 up by 100 points. 16600 to 16620 will act as a resistance zone for Nifty while 16,480 to 16,450 will act as a support zone. Fresh buying in Nifty should be initiated only on daily close above 16550 with higher than average volumes," said Gaurav Udani, Founder & CEO, ThincRedBlu Securities.

Mohit Nigam, Head - PMS, Hem Securities said, Indian markets also looked firm as Japan, South Korea and Australia are positive. Oil steadies after yesterday's solid recovery. What comes as a major breakthrough is USFDA approval for Pfizer and BioNTech's vaccine which shall likely help the US to fight against rising delta variant cases and this has lifted investor sentiments across the globe. On the technical front, 16,300 and 16,750 are immediate support and resistance in Nifty 50, he added.

US stock benchmarks booked new records Monday, as investors appeared to wager that the Federal Reserve’s Chairman Jerome Powell will adopt a more dovish posture than previously anticipated when he speaks later this week at the annual Jackson Hole monetary policy symposium. The Food and Drug Administration approved its first COVID-19 vaccine by Pfizer Moderna. This also improved sentiments.

Indian benchmark equity indices ended in the positive on August 23 after a volatile session. In the process the Nifty broke a 2 day losing streak. At close, the Nifty 50 advanced 0.28 percent or 46 points to 16,496.45.

Nifty filled the downgap made on Friday by opening higher but closed below it as it gave away a large part of intra day gains. However the fact that it recovered from the intra day low and did not make a new low compared to the previous day is encouraging. Advance decline ratio improved marginally compared to the previous day but is still much below 1:1. 16376-16396 is the important support band now for the Nifty, while a close above 16569 would result in return of some confidence in the markets.

Wall Street rallied on Monday, and the Nasdaq reached an all-time closing high as sentiment was boosted by full FDA approval of a COVID-19 vaccine and market participants looked ahead to the Jackson Hole Symposium expected to convene later this week.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 215.63 points, or 0.61 percent, to 35,335.71, the S&P 500 gained 37.86 points, or 0.85 percent, to 4,479.53 and the Nasdaq Composite added 227.99 points, or 1.55 percent, to 14,942.65.

IHS Markit’s flash U.S. composite index, which tracks the manufacturing and services sectors, fell to 55.4, marking an eight-month low. The flash services index fell to a reading of 55.2 from 59.9, also marking its lowest since December, with economists on average expecting a reading of 59.7, while manufacturing was 61.2, a four-month low, compared with July’s all-time high reading of 63.4.

Asian markets up

Shares in Asia-Pacific largely rose in Tuesday morning trade after the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite jumped to a record closing high following the US Food and Drug Administration’s full approval of Pfizer and BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine.

The Nikkei 225 in Japan gained 1.15 percent, as shares of conglomerate Softbank Group surged more than 2 percent. The Topix index advanced 1.18 percent. South Korea’s Kospi jumped 1.55 percent.

National Monetisation Plan

India plans to monetise $81 billion worth of state assets over the next four years under a program announced earlier in the 2021/2022 budget to boost infrastructure spending and spur economic growth in Asia’s third biggest economy.

The Indian government aims to hand already built assets such as gas pipelines, roads, railway stations and warehousing facilities among others to the private sector to operate on a long-term lease, Amitabh Kant, chief executive of government think tank NITI Aayog, told a news conference on Monday.

“The strategic objective of the programme is to unlock the value of investments in brownfield public sector assets by tapping institutional and long-term patient capital which can thereafter be leveraged for further public investments.”

The government is looking to monetise 25 AAI-managed airports, including Varanasi, Chennai, Nagpur and Bhubaneshwar, over the next four years, which could bring in investments worth Rs 20,782 crore. Further, divestment of Airports Authority of India's (AAI) residual stake in four airport JVs has also been considered under the national monetisation pipeline (NMP) unveiled on Monday. This includes the private sector operated airports in Mumbai (26 percent stake), Delhi (26 percent stake), Hyderabad (13 percent stake), and Bangalore (13 percent stake).

The total airport assets for monetisation account for 18 percent of the overall airport assets under management of the AAI. The total value of assets considered for monetisation is estimated at Rs 20,782 crore for FY 2022-25.

Under the ambitious NMP, the government has identified 13 sectors, including airports, which could monetise their brownfield infrastructure assets.

Oil rules steady

Oil steadied on Tuesday after jumping more than 5 percent amid a global rebound in equities and commodities following the worst losing streak for crude since October 2019.

Futures in New York traded near $65 a barrel after advancing on Monday for the first time in eight sessions. The fast-spreading Delta variant of the virus is continuing to cloud the economic outlook, but there are a few positive signs for demand. China has brought local cases down to zero, while Southeast Asia’s biggest economy -- Indonesia -- has lifted some restrictions.

The COVID-19 resurgence has interrupted oil’s rally and may prompt OPEC+ to reassess its plans to return additional barrels to the market each month until all of its halted output halted is revived. Goldman Sachs Group Inc , however, reiterated that the impact from delta would be transient.

Vision report on UCBs

The expert committee on Urban Co-operative Banks was set up on February 2021 under the chairmanship of former Deputy Governor of Reserve Bank of India (RBI), NS Vishwanathan.

The expert committee on August 23 submitted its report in two parts. The first part of the report lays out the vision document for the UCBs and the second part talks about the committee’s recommendations on different aspects of strengthening and functioning of UCBs.

The committee said that the UCBs have the potential to be the harbinger of economic empowerment of a large number of financially excluded persons in the country.

IMF SDRs

The IMF will distribute about $650 billion in new Special Drawing Rights to its members on Monday, providing a “significant shot in the arm” for global efforts to combat the COVID-19 pandemic, Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said.

The International Monetary Fund’s largest-ever distribution of monetary reserves will provide additional liquidity for the global economy, supplementing member countries’ foreign exchange reserves and reducing their reliance on more expensive domestic or external debt, Georgieva said in a statement.

Countries can use the SDR allocation to support their economies and step up their fight against the coronavirus crisis, but should not use the fiscal space to delay needed economic reforms or debt restructuring, the IMF said in separate guidance document.

Southwest monsoons likely to be below normal

India's southwest monsoons is likely to be below normal considering the present trajectory, said private weather forecasting service, Skymet, in a revised update. Skymet is now forecasting monsoon rains to be at 94 percent of the long-period average with a (+/-) 4 percent margin of error from June to September, according to its updated forecast published on Monday.

Pan-India seasonal rainfall deficiency is at 9% till mid-August. In terms of geographical risk, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Odisha, Kerala, and Northeast India are likely to be hit with deficient rains. The chance of drought over Gujarat and west Rajasthan appears imminent.

F&O ban today

Four stocks are under the F&O ban today: Canara Bank, Vodafone Idea, NMDC and Sun TV Network.