Sensex opens 129 points down

In Asian region,the Hong Kong8217;s Hang Seng index fell by 1.16 per cent,while Japan8217;s Nikkei shed 0.93 per in early trade. The US Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 1.96 per cent in yesterday8217;s trade.

Pre-Open: Sensex,Nifty stocks to watch

GLOBAL MARKETS

The near-month derivative contract for India8217;s NSE index at Singapore Exchange fell 1.1 percent,while the MSCI Asia-Pacific ex-Japan declined 1.4 percent.

Asian shares fell on Friday and the safe-haven dollar hovered near its highest in a week-and-a-half after weak manufacturing data from the United States,Europe and China heightened fears over the outlook for global growth.

US stocks posted the worst day in three weeks on Thursday on mounting evidence that slowing manufacturing growth worldwide threatened corporate profits.

FACTORS TO WATCH

State Bank of India will hold a shareholders meeting at 3.30 pm in Mumbai on Friday. 1000 GMT

India8217;s foreign reserves data. 1230 GMT

INDIAN STOCKS TO WATCH

ENERGY/COMMODITIES

Eleven cement makers were slapped with 1.1 billion in fines for price fixing,a record penalty from India8217;s increasingly assertive anti-trust regulator.

UltraTech Cement,ACC,Ambuja Cements ,India Cements and the Indian unit of France8217;s Lafarge SA were among those fined the equivalent of 50 percent of their net profit for the fiscal years ending in March 2010 and March 2011.

Reliance Industries and its partners BP and Niko Resources plan to invest 4 billion to develop satellite fields in the D6 block,company officials and government sources said.

The government is likely to reject an offer by Vedanta Resources to buy the residual stakes in group firms Hindustan Zinc and Bharat Aluminium for about 170 billion rupees.

A senior government official associated with the process said the Committee of Secretaries was against accepting the offer.

Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani may let go of the textile business,including the storied Only Vimal brand and the Naroda facility,which was the first manufacturing asset built by his father Dhirubhai Ambani four decades ago.

Three senior Reliance officials separately confirmed that the group was exploring all strategic options,including a sale of the textile operations.

The coal ministry will push for significant dilution of the provisions of Coal India8217;s current fuel supply pacts with power companies Saturday8217;s meeting at the Prime Minister8217;s Office, a senior official from the coal ministry said.

FINANCIAL/REGULATORY

The RBI has allowed lenders to hold long and short positions in government bonds in their trading portfolios,and said they can short sell the securities only if they cover their positions through purchases in the market.

RETAIL

The government is moving swiftly to build a consensus over the move to allow foreign investment in the multi-brand retail sector with the commerce,industry and textiles minister Anand Sharma writing to three key state chief ministers of Uttar Pradesh,Punjab and Odisha to seek their support.

Jindal Steel amp; Power Ltd is looking for alternative coal and iron ore projects following a disagreement with Bolivia over power supplies for it 2.1 billion venture in the country.

Chairman and managing director Naveen Jindal said the company is now looking elsewhere in South America,as well as in Africa and Australia.

India8217;s crucial monsoon rainfall picked up from early lows last week,the weather office said,but concerns remain as it is still below average and the rains are behind schedule particularly in the grain bowl of the north-west.

TELECOMS

The panel of ministers on spectrum on Thursday deferred its meeting to decide on the spectrum reserve price for the 2G auction,raising concerns the government may not be able to meet the Supreme Court8217;s August 31 deadline to complete the sale process.

INDUSTRIAL/INFRASTRUCTURE

French defence firm DCNS is likely to pick up a little less than 10 percent equity stake in Pipavav Defence and Offshore Engineering for about 8 billion rupees according to Pipavav Defence officials.

The first project from the railway portfolio in the government8217;s infrastructure package will be an elevated rail corridor in Mumbai.

To be built at a cost of around 200 billion rupees,the project may turn out be the railways8217; first public private-partnership initiative in the passenger segment.

MEDIA

The Indian Broadcasting Foundation IBF,a representative body of television channels,on Thursday held a meeting to express disappointment at the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting8217;s decision to postpone the digitisation of cable television services in four cities until October.

AUTOS

Tata Motors said its head of India operations P.M. Telang had retired.

IT

Mastek8217;s US subsidiary MajescoMastek said it had signed a multi-year licence,implementation and maintenance contract with a Fortune-100 insurance and financial services company. The initial value of the contract is 30 million

Aegis Ltd,Essar Group8217;s information technology and business process outsourcing arm,is targeting organic growth of 26 per cent and revenue of 1.25 billion in 2012-13,Managing Director and CEO Aparup Sengupta said.

OTHER FACTORS TO WATCH

Indian debt/FX factors to watch

Dollar rebounds as global growth jitters hit risk

Oil falls below 90 for first time since Dec 2010

Foreign institutional investor flows

For closing rates of Indian ADRs