Asian share markets recovered from morning lows but were still trading lower as jitters over the US Federal Reserve's Jackson Hole Symposium compounded with twin blasts in Afghanistan, soured investment sentiment.
The Hang Seng is up 0.5%, while the Nikkei is trading down by 0.6%. The Shanghai Composite is up 0.4%.
In US stock markets, Wall Street indices fell overnight on fears of a faster tapering of the Federal Reserve's bond purchase program, although gains in banks and some strong earnings reports helped cap losses.
In early trade, all three major indexes had declined sharply after a bomb blast in Afghanistan's capital city of Kabul briefly rattled sentiment.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.5%, while both the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite lost 0.6%.
Back home, Indian share markets have opened on a negative note.
The BSE Sensex is trading down by 155 points. Meanwhile, the NSE Nifty is trading lower by 37 points.
Asian Paints and Reliance are among the top gainers today. Bharti Airtel, on the other hand, is among the top losers today.
The BSE Mid Cap index and the BSE Small Cap index have opened up by 0.3% and 0.2%, respectively.
Sectoral indices are trading mixed with stocks in the realty sector and power sector witnessing buying interest.
IT stocks and automobile stocks, on the other hand, are trading in the red.
Shares of Carborundum Universal and Avenue Supermarts hit their 52-week highs today.
The rupee is trading at 74.15 against the US$.
Gold prices are trading up by 0.4% at Rs 47,410 per 10 grams.
Meanwhile, silver prices are trading up by 0.3% at Rs 62,937 per kg.
Crude oil prices rose today, on track to post big gains for the week, on worries about near-term supply disruptions as energy companies began shutting in production in the Gulf of Mexico ahead of a potential hurricane forecast to hit on the weekend.
In news from the aviation sector, InterGlobe Aviation (IndiGo) is among the top buzzing stocks today.
Low-cost carrier IndiGo has launched eight new daily direct flights to enhance domestic connectivity, the company said in a statement on Thursday.
The airline said it has launched new flights between Indore-Lucknow and Lucknow-Jaipur while bettering the connectivity between Delhi, Dehradun, and Lucknow.
This will be effective 1 September.
In a press release, the company's chief strategy officer Sanjay Kumar said,
- The new routes will enhance mobility between the states of Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, and Uttarakhand and improve accessibility while promoting trade and commerce in the region providing a hassle-free flight experience.
Last week, the airline had announced that it will start new flights from Gwalior to Delhi and Indore in September.
IndiGo is also planning to commence operations from Bareilly in Uttar Pradesh.
IndiGo's share price has opened the day down by 0.1%.
Speaking of IndiGo, note that despite the Covid pandemic in the past year, the company has gained market share while its competitors SpiceJet and AirAsia have lost market share.
For the June quarter, IndiGo posted losses at the rate of Rs 350 m daily, which was larger than any expectation. This loss took its combined loss for the last six quarters to close to Rs 100 bn.
Despite the company reporting huge losses, its shares have performed relatively better.
In fact, over the past year, they have outperformed the benchmark BSE Sensex.
On account of unlocking activities, speculations about the Government mulling to remove price cap on flight tickets and increase flight capacity to the tune of 85%, market experts are bullish on IndiGo.
Moving on to news from the IPO space, India's largest e-pharmacy platform PharmEasy is gearing up to file draft papers by October before an initial public offering (IPO) later in the fiscal year.
The above IPO development comes at a time when discussions with Japan's SoftBank for a new funding round have fallen through.
PharmEasy is on track for an IPO but is still negotiating with new investors to raise between US$200 m and US$300 m at a valuation of around US$5.6 bn.
API Holdings, which runs PharmEasy, was valued at US$4.2 bn in June.
API Holdings is working with JM Financial and Kotak Investment Banking for the DRHP since the two banks had managed its purchase of diagnostics chain Thyrocare Technologies in June.
Over the last few months, the company has raised over US$650 m from investors such as Prosus, B Capital, TPG, and others.
The conversation between SoftBank and PharmEasy, which has been going on for the last few months, is stuck since PharmEasy's promoters are looking at a valuation of well over US$5 bn.
Note that after Reliance Industries bought more than 60% stake in e-pharmacy startup Netmeds last year and the Tata Group acquired 1mg in June, PharmEasy is the only large independent player remaining.
It bought smaller rival Medlife last year though the deal officially closed only earlier this year.
PharmEasy's IPO plans would also follow the footsteps of the success of Zomato's IPO in July which set the stage for Indian online firms to go public this year.
Besides medicine delivery and diagnostic bookings, PharmEasy is also ramping up its play in online doctor consultations.
It remains to be seen when the company files its DRHP and comes out with its IPO.
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