Shares in Asia opened higher Monday as markets shifted focus to key US data prints this week for further insight into the health of the world's biggest economy.

Equity benchmarks for Australia and South Korea both gained.

US stock indices gained marginally on Friday, as the volatile week is set to end.

Here's a table showing how US stocks performed on Friday:

Source: Equitymaster

At present, the BSE Sensex is trading 293 points lower and NSE Nifty is trading 90 points lower.

Grasim, Cipla, and Tata Motors are among the top gainers today.

Adani Enterprises, Adani Ports, and NTPC the other hand are among the top losers today.

The BSE Midcap index is trading 0.3% lower and the BSE Smallcap index is trading flat.

Barring the realty sector, all other sectoral indices are trading lower today, with stocks in the metal sector, power sector, and auto sector witnessing selling.

The rupee is trading at Rs 83.95 against the US dollar.

In commodity markets, gold prices are trading marginally lower at Rs 69,817 per 10 grams today.
 

ONGC to Invest in OPaL

Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) has received government approval to invest more capital in ONGC Petro Additions Limited (OPaL).

The investment will include an infusion of additional equity capital up to Rs 105 bn in ONGC Petro additions Limited (OPaL), which will take ONGC's stake in its subsidiary to 95.7%. The company received approval from the Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas, Govt. of India (GoI) on 9 August 2024.

The ministry has also provided a roadmap for OPaL which permits the company to allocate 50% of the annual gas production from new wells or well interventions or up to 3.2 MMSCMD of domestic natural gas, for providing feedstock support to OPaL, at a price up to 20% above APM (administrative price mechanism) price.

APM Price of natural gas per MMBtu is 10 percent of the Indian crude basket price per barrel of Oil.

OPal has a petrochemical complex in Dahej Gujarat. OPaL can produce 1.5 million metric tonnes per annum (mmtpa) of polymers and 0.5 mmtpa of chemicals. OPaL was set up as a joint venture between ONGC, Gail India and Gujarat State Petroleum Corp Ltd (GSPC).
 

Bank of Baroda Hikes Lending Rate

Bank of Baroda on Friday announced that it would hike lending rates by 5 basis points (bps) on 3-month, 6-month, and 1-year tenures, with effect from 12 August 2024. With this latest hike in the marginal cost of funds-based lending rates (MCLR), EMIs will increase for borrowers.

According to a regulatory filing by the Bank of Baroda on 9 August, The bank has reviewed/ changed the marginal cost of funds-based lending rate (MCLR) with effect from 12 August 2024.

As per the filing, Bank of Baroda has hiked its 3-month MCLR from 8.4% to 8.5%, its 6-month MCLR from 8.7% to 8.8%, and the benchmark 1-year MCLR from 8.9% to 8.9%. It is a 5 bps hike on each tenure.

A basis point (bp) is a 100th of a percentage.

Adani Group Scraps Hindenburg's Fresh Allegations

Adani Group has dismissed the latest allegations from the US-based short seller as a red herring.

In a statement to stock exchanges on Sunday, a spokesperson for Adani Group described the new claims by Hindenburg Research as malicious, mischievous, and manipulative.

The spokesperson accused Hindenburg of using publicly available information to draw pre-determined conclusions for personal gain, with blatant disregard for facts and the law.

A statement reiterated that the company's overseas holding structure is fully transparent, with all relevant details disclosed regularly in numerous public documents. Furthermore, Anil Ahuja was a nominee director of the 3i investment fund in Adani Power from 2007 to 2008 and later a director of Adani Enterprises (AEL) until 2017.

According to the Hindenburg report released on Saturday, Ahuja is the founder and chief investment officer of the Mauritius-based IPE Plus Fund. The report claims IPE fund was structured two layers below the Global Opportunities Fund.

During the same period, Ahuja served as a director of AEL for three terms, totalling nine years, ending in June 2017, according to his biography and exchange disclosures. Prior to that, he was a director of Adani Power.

For a discredited short-seller under the scanner for several violations of Indian securities laws, Hindenburg's allegations are no more than red herrings thrown by a desperate entity with total contempt for Indian laws.

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