Global factors that investors should be aware of!

A long-awaited report on US inflation turned out to be even worse than expected, fuelling speculation that Federal Reserve will tighten interest rates even further.

Foreign investors continued to sell riskier assets in the last trading session due to concerns about US inflation data with FIIs selling Rs 2,839.52 crore and DIIs buying Rs 1,799.22 crore in equity. A long-awaited report on US inflation turned out to be even worse than expected, fuelling speculation that Federal Reserve will tighten interest rates even further.  

All the three major US indices slipped over a per cent each early on Wednesday due to the release of a report that showed that US inflation surging to a record high of 9.1 per cent in June over the previous 12 months. More than 90 per cent of S&P 500 companies were in the red as the biggest increase in consumer prices since 1981 hinted at aggressive Federal Reserve policies. In the early trade, the rupee fell against the dollar and hit a record low of 79.90.  

Asian markets fluctuated as a result of the US market worsening. Hang Seng in Hong Kong and Shanghai SE Composite in China were trading at lower levels as the shares of significant Chinese companies with US listings declined in the domestic markets.  

With a loss of 62 points, SGX Nifty indicated a negative opening for the larger index in India. Despite the weakness in the global markets, the opening of the Indian benchmark indicators on Thursday was more optimistic. Thereafter, it swung into the red zone. The oil & gas and energy sectors witnessed gains while BSE IT was the session's top loser, plunging nearly 1.5 per cent.