Global markets signal a cautious opening as weak US and Asian futures offset firm crude oil. Gift Nifty slipped 0.12%, while FIIs sold ₹5,039.8 crore and DIIs bought ₹5,183.9 crore. Corporate orders, acquisitions, IPO activity and record forex reserves remain key positives, alongside earnings, block deals and regulatory developments today.
Date: August 31, 2026 | Time: 06:00 AM IST
1. Global Market Futures & Live Indices
| Region / Market | Index / Benchmark | Change (%) | Status |
| US Markets | Nasdaq Futures | -0.39% | Futures |
| Dow Jones Futures | -0.19% | Futures |
| S&P 500 Futures | -0.30% | Futures |
| European Markets | FTSE 100 Futures | +0.20% | Futures |
| CAC 40 Futures | -0.18% | Futures |
| DAX Futures | -0.33% | Futures |
| Asian Markets | NIKKEI 225 | -1.78% | Live Market |
| KOSPI | -1.87% | Live Market |
| ASX 200 | -0.09% | Live Market |
| India Benchmark | Gift Nifty | -0.12% | Live Market |
Note: Gift Nifty traded at 24,282.50 (-0.12%).
2. Live Commodity Market Updates
International commodity markets traded mixed, with energy prices outperforming metals. WTI crude rose 1.19% to $84.39 per barrel, while Brent gained 1.12% to $89.27, indicating firm momentum in the oil market. Natural gas, however, declined 1.35% to $2.841. Precious metals remained subdued: gold futures fell 0.52% to $4,506.54, although spot gold edged 0.05% higher to $4,457.40. Silver recorded the steepest decline among metals, slipping 0.89% to $67.185. Copper also weakened 0.58% to $6.6215. Overall, strength in crude oil contrasted with broad softness across industrial and precious metals, while natural gas remained under selling pressure.
3. Institutional Trading Activity (Cash Market - August 28, 2026)
Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs / FPIs): Net Sell of ₹5,039.80 Crore
Domestic Institutional Investors (DIIs): Net Buy of ₹5,183.93 Crore
4. Key Corporate Updates
Positive Catalysts
John Cockerill India: Secured a contract valued at ₹200 crore, strengthening the company’s order book.
Ola Electric: Received an incentive of ₹95.81 crore under the Production-Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme for the automobile and auto-components sector.
AXISCADES Technologies: Board approved the acquisition of equity in Cloud Wave Technologies for ₹234 crore.
360 ONE WAM: Asset-management arm approved the acquisition of an alternative investment fund business from PML.
Aster DM Quality Care: Subsidiary acquired shares in STS Holdings for $44.1 million.
Ashoka Buildcon: The company has received a Letter of Acceptance (LoA) worth ₹602.16 crore from Rail Vikas Nigam for the supply and commissioning of an electromechanical system.
Sintercom India: Secured an order worth ₹36.5 lakh from Larsen & Toubro’s mobility plant.
Power Grid Corporation: Acquired the Fatehgarh II transmission project.
Cupid: Approved the establishment of a manufacturing venture in South Africa with a local partner; the company is expected to hold an equity stake in the venture.
Clean Max Enviro Energy Solutions: Approved a term sheet with Envision Energy India for the procurement of 1,550 MW of wind-turbine generators.
IndiGo Ventures–Sarvam: IndiGo Ventures invested in Indian AI company Sarvam to strengthen the use of artificial intelligence across aviation operations.
Mahindra & Mahindra: Expanded its Battery-as-a-Service offering across its electric-origin SUV portfolio.
Coforge: Expanded its strategic partnership with Pega to accelerate enterprise artificial-intelligence transformation.
Prestige Estates Projects: Launched Prestige Palm Court in North Chennai with an estimated gross development value of ₹1,330 crore.
Meta Infotech: Received a ₹4.08 crore renewal order for sustenance services.
Aurobindo Pharma: USFDA inspection of Apitoria Pharma’s Unit VI concluded with three procedural observations.
Max Estates: The developer will acquire promoter-owned entities holding 84.71 acres in West Delhi through a non-cash share swap, unlocking an estimated ₹10,000–12,000 crore development opportunity.
Avantel: The company has received a contract worth ₹117.88 crore from the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) for the development, installation and commissioning of a Ground Segment Hub for voice and data communication.
NBCC: Signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with NHPC for the execution of NHPC's infrastructure projects across India, including residential blocks, residential and commercial infrastructure, office complexes and allied facilities, at a project management consultancy (PMC) fee of 5.5%.
Transformers and Rectifiers (India): The company has secured a large order for the supply of generator transformers for the Nuclear Power Corporation of India's (NPCIL) Kaiga Units 5 & 6 nuclear power project in Karnataka. The order marks the company's first order in the nuclear power sector and has been received from Megha Engineering and Infrastructures.
Tata Chemicals: The company's US subsidiary emerged as the successful bidder for Searles Valley Minerals’ soda ash contracts, covering over 500,000 tonnes of orders through December 2028 and expected revenues exceeding $110 million.
Indraprastha Gas: IGL has decided to increase the price of compressed natural gas (CNG) across Delhi-NCR by ₹3.89 per kg, attributing the increase to the re-escalation of the West Asia crisis.
Oil India: Subsidiary OIL Green Energy signed MoUs with four Haryana municipalities to develop integrated waste-to-energy projects, processing 5,000 tonnes of municipal waste daily and producing 70–75 tonnes of compressed biogas per day alongside 50 MW of green electricity.
Negative Catalysts
Aurobindo Pharma: The United States Food and Drug Administration (US FDA) inspected Unit-VI, an API manufacturing facility of Aurobindo Pharma's subsidiary Apitoria Pharma, at Anakapalli in Andhra Pradesh from August 24 to 28, 2026. The US FDA concluded the inspection with three observations, which are procedural in nature.
Debock Industries: SEBI barred the company from accessing the securities market for seven years through a final order in the matter.
Kallam Textiles: Received a tax show-cause notice dated August 27 from the relevant tax authority.
Neutral Catalysts
HDFC Bank: MD and CEO Sashidhar Jagdishan has decided not to seek reappointment and will retire on October 26, 2026; the bank will fast-track the selection and appointment of his successor.
Reliance Industries: SEBI issued an observation letter on the Draft Red Herring Prospectus (DRHP) to the company’s Telecom arm Jio Platforms’ proposed $3.8 billion initial public offering.
Cipla: The United States Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) has classified the inspection of Unit 3, a manufacturing facility of Cipla's subsidiary InvaGen Pharmaceuticals Inc. in the US, as Voluntary Action Indicated. The USFDA conducted an inspection of the said facility from July 13 to 17, 2026.
LIC Housing Finance: Appointed Sandeep Kumar as Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer with effect from August 29, 2026.
Freshara Agro Exports: Reappointed Junaid Ahmed as Chairman and Managing Director.
Indong Tea Company: Appointed Rajesh Garg as Managing Director for a five-year term.
Gujarat Themis Biosyn: Approved the closure of its qualified institutional placement issue on August 28, 2026.
Piramal Finance: Approved the closure of its qualified institutional placement on August 28, 2026.
Muthoot Microfin: Approved the issuance of non-convertible debentures aggregating ₹250 crore.
Ather Energy: Government of Singapore sold a stake in the electric two-wheeler manufacturer through a bulk deal on August 28.
Knowledge Realty Trust: Blackstone Real Estate Partners Asia proposed selling up to a 25% stake through an offer for sale at a floor price of ₹108 per unit, potentially raising over $1 billion.
Royal Orchid Hotels: Initiated the process of obtaining a discotheque licence for its Bengaluru property.
5. Bulk & Block Deals Summary (Company-Wise)
Lenskart Solutions: Alpha Wave Ventures executed a major exit by selling a 1.7% stake for ₹1,856.8 crore at ₹630 per share. The stake was absorbed by thirty-three institutional investors, including prominent funds such as NPS Trust, ICICI Prudential, SBI Mutual Fund, Morgan Stanley, and Goldman Sachs.
Ather Energy: Promoter Hero MotoCorp consolidated its holding by acquiring an additional 3.01% stake, comprising 1.18 crore shares, from the Government of Singapore for ₹1,758.24 crore. The bulk deal transaction was executed at ₹1,480 per share.
Genus Power Infrastructures: GIC Group’s entity Chiswick Investment offloaded a 1.17% stake for ₹116.12 crore at ₹324.50 per share. The shares were picked up by institutional buyers, with HSBC Mutual Fund purchasing ₹71.12 crore worth of equity and Aart Corporate Advisors acquiring shares worth ₹45 crore.
Strides Pharma Science: Promoter Arun Kumar Pillai bought an additional 1.08% stake in the company for ₹99 crore at ₹990 per share. The seller in this transaction was SBI Life Insurance, which previously held a 4.76% stake as of June 2026.
Religare Enterprises: Investor Ashish Dhawan increased his exposure in the financial services firm by acquiring an additional 1.11% stake via two market transactions worth ₹88.16 crore at ₹232 per share, expanding on his 5.24% holding reported in June 2026.
KSR Footwear: Secondary market action saw Alpa Wealth Creator buy a 1.33% stake for ₹76.66 lakh at ₹31.28 per share. On the selling side, Ambit Investment Advisors shed a 0.99% stake for ₹57.2 lakh at ₹31.43 per share.
6. IPO Listings & Primary Market Dynamics
Mainboard Listing Today
Ongoing IPOs
Last Date: Aug 31
Last Date: Sep 01
Priority Jewels Ltd
ESDS Software Solution Ltd
Complete Sports And Management India Ltd (BSE SME)
Paluck Technologies Ltd (BSE SME)
Last Date: Sep 02
Purple Style Labs Ltd
Ashutosh Fibre Ltd (NSE SME)
Shanti Inorganics Ltd (NSE SME)
Phychem Technologies Ltd (BSE SME)
Upcoming IPOs (Sep 01 to Sep 03)
7. Macro, Non-Corporate, Unlisted & Foreign Stocks
Gold: Prices advanced as investors awaited the US Federal Reserve chair’s Jackson Hole speech.
Industrial Production: Industrial-output growth moderated to 6.7%, exceeding Reuters expectations of 6%, for July. Mining activity contracted during the month, whereas the output was supported by 7.3% manufacturing growth; April–July output increased 6.3%.
Forex Reserves: India’s foreign-exchange reserves reached a record $729.33 billion as of August 21, up from $716.91 billion in the preceding week; gold reserves increased to $114.22 billion from $111.42 billion.
Banking System: Bank loans rose 18.3% year-on-year, while deposits increased 14.7% in the fortnight ended August 15.
Indian Rupee: Closed 0.2% stronger at ₹95.3775 against the US dollar, compared with the previous close of ₹95.5400.
Government Bonds: India’s benchmark 10-year bond yield rose to a more than two-month high and closed at 6.9108%, compared with 6.8901% previously.
RBI Liquidity Operations: RBI will conduct a 15-day variable-rate reverse repo auction for ₹6 lakh crore under the Liquidity Adjustment Facility on August 31.
State Borrowings: Fifteen states will raise an aggregate ₹27,000 crore through loans on September 1.
Treasury Bills: The government will auction ₹24,000 crore of Treasury bills on September 2, comprising ₹9,000 crore of 91-day, ₹8,000 crore of 182-day and ₹7,000 crore of 364-day securities.
Government Securities: The government announced a ₹30,000 crore buyback of dated securities through an auction scheduled for September 3.
Currency and Reserve Money: Currency in circulation increased by ₹14,444 crore to ₹42.91 lakh crore in the fortnight ended August 15, recording 12.4% annual growth; reserve money grew 6.6% year-on-year and broad money supply rose 14.2%.
Government Borrowings: The central government had no outstanding loans with RBI as of August 21.
Food Labelling Regulations: India proposed phased front-of-pack warning labels featuring red hexagonal symbols for packaged foods high in two or more nutrients such as fat, sugar and salt, aimed particularly at enabling informed choices for children.
SEBI ETF Norms: SEBI extended the implementation timeline for provisions concerning base prices, price bands, pre-open call auctions and close-out procedures for exchange-traded funds; the revised framework takes effect from September 7, 2026.
SEBI Orders: The regulator issued an order concerning Bonanza Portfolio and others, along with an adjudication order involving Dilip Kumar Gupta HUF in relation to trading in illiquid BSE stock options.
NYSE Order Imbalance: ICICI Bank’s US-listed ADR recorded an order imbalance of 865,288 shares on the buy side.
Palm Oil: Recorded a weekly decline, snapping a three-week winning streak.
Trafiksol ITS Technologies: SEBI barred the company from the securities market for one year in connection with its IPO.
8. Quarterly Earnings & Trading Actions
Quarterly Results Expected Today
Securities Trading Ex-Dividend (August 31, 2026)
Ganesh Housing Ltd
Glenmark Pharmaceuticals Ltd
Ion Exchange (India) Ltd
Mastek Ltd
Orbit Exports Ltd
Triveni Engineering & Industries Ltd
Total Transport Systems Ltd
Securities Under F&O Ban (August 31, 2026)
Sources: WOWNEWS24X7, Moneycontrol, Investing.com
