Mr. Vikas Jain, Senior Research Analyst at Reliance Securities.
Indian equities ended slightly higher as the Nifty was up 0.3% while Nifty Mid Cap and Nifty Small Cap outperformed the main index and ended 0.4% and 0.9% higher. Sectoral indices ended mixed. Nifty PSU Bank (+1.7%) and Nifty Pvt Bank (+1.3%) were the primary gainers. Nifty FMCG (-0.5%) and Nifty Oil & Gas (-0.3%) were the major laggards.
US stocks ended lower with banks leading the declines, as investors assessed recent ratings downgrades and look ahead to the Jackson Hole economic conference later this week. S&P 500 closed down 0.3%, the Nasdaq was up 0.1% while the Dow fell 0.5%. The benchmark 10-year yield slipped 0.01 percentage points to 4.33%.
Concerns over the Fed's path on interest rates have returned to markets. The release of minutes from the Federal Reserve's latest policy meeting suggested the committee remains focused on reining in inflation and won't rule out further hikes in September. In India, CPI Inflation Spikes To 15-Month High as the Consumer Price Index for the month July stood at 7.44% compared with 4.87% in June while expectation was 6.50%.