The benchmark stock indices have opened the day flat with some minor gains.The oil market continues to face pressure as demand remains lackluster even as a supply glut persists.Join us as we follow the top business news through the day.10:20 AMOil extends losses as stockpile rise amid weakening demandSupply gluts and lack of demand continue to clobber oil.Reuters reports: “Oil prices fell for a second day on Friday, pressured by a surprise rise in U.S. stockpiles as the coronavirus pandemic continues to erode demand for fuels.Brent crude was down 18 cents, or 0.5%, at $39.88 a barrel by 0337 GMT, after falling nearly 2% on Thursday, while U.S. crude dropped 14 cents, or 0.4%, to $37.16 a barrel, having fallen 2% in the previous session.Both major benchmarks are down around 6.5% for the week and headed for a second week of declines, as hopes dim for a steady recovery in fuel demand amid signs of second-wave coronavirus outbreaks.In the United States, stockpiles rose last week, against expectations, as refineries slowly returned to operations after production sites were shut down due to storms in the Gulf of Mexico and wider region.“While U.S. crude oil production continues to recover following Hurricane Laura, the numbers show that refineries further reduced run rates over the last week,” ING Economics said in a note.U.S. crude inventories rose 2.0 million barrels, compared with forecasts for a 1.3 million-barrel decrease in a Reuters poll.In a further bearish sign, traders were starting to book tankers again to store crude oil and diesel, amid a stalled economic recovery as the COVID-19 pandemic continues unabated.Onshore storage remains near capacity as supplies continue to outpace demand, so the use of so-called floating storage is back in vogue as cheap financing costs and the spread between contracts for delivery now and later months makes it favourable for traders to hold oil for later sale.Increasing stockpiles are likely to be a subject at a meeting on Sept. 17 of the market monitoring panel of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and allies including Russia, a group known as OPEC+.The grouping has been withholding supply to reduce stockpiles but analysts say the meeting is likely to focus on compliance among members, rather than seek deeper cuts.”10:00 AMSensex rises in early trade; Nifty above 11,450 Domestic equity benchmark Sensex jumped over 100 points in early trade on Friday tracking gains in index majors Reliance Industries, HDFC Bank and Kotak Bank amid fresh foreign fund inflow.The 30-share BSE index was trading 114.64 points or 0.30% higher at 38,954.96; while the NSE Nifty rose 32.45 points or 0.28% to 11,481.70.Titan was the top gainer in the Sensex pack, surging around 3%, followed by SBI, Maruti, TCS, HDFC Bank, Kotak Bank, ITC and UltraTech Cement.On the other hand, HCL Tech, IndusInd Bank, Nestle India and Asian Paints were among the laggards.
9:30 AMCrisil now sees GDP shrinking 9% in FY21 Crisil Research on Friday said India’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) would shrink 9% in FY21, wider than its May estimate of a 5% contraction. This rate of fall has not been seen since the 1950s, it added.“With the pandemic’s peak not yet in sight and the government not providing adequate direct fiscal support, the downside risks to our earlier forecast have materialised,” Crisil Research said.
