10 things you need to know before the opening bell on September 7

3. Market At Close On Friday: Indian shares ended over 1.5 percent lower on Friday after a selloff on Wall Street rippled across the Asian markets, with almost all major sector indices trading lower. The Sensex ended 634 points lower at 38,357 while the Nifty lost 193 points to settle at 11,334. Indian benchmarks also ended lower for the week after two weeks of gains, down around 2.5 percent. Meanwhile, the broader Asian stock markets saw their worst session in two weeks after Wall Street's main indexes marked their steepest losses since June on the back of a tech-led plunge. (Image: Reuters)

4. Crude Oil: Oil prices fell more than 3 percent on Friday, headed for their biggest weekly decline since June as concern around a slow economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic added to worries about weak oil demand. Brent crude, the international benchmark, settled $1.41, or 3.2 percent, lower at $42.66 per barrel. West Texas Intermediate crude fell $1.60, or 3.8 percent, to settle at $39.77 per barrel, reported CNBC International. (Image: Reuters)

5. Rupee Close: The Indian currency ended lower on Friday amidst weakness in domestic equity market and a mixed trend in Asian currencies. The rupee ended at 73.14 against the US dollar as compared to the previous close of 73.47. For the week, the rupee appreciated by 26 paise against the dollar. (Image: Reuters)

6. FM On Foreign Investors: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday said India's commitment to reform is being taken seriously by foreign investors, which is evident from the good inflow of FDI even during the time of COVID-19. Between April-July, the Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) into India stood at $20 billion. India's commitment to reform is taken seriously by investors abroad and they take India to be a very desirable destination, otherwise, we wouldn't be seeing a good amount of FDI coming even during the pandemic time when India, as many of our critics would say, had the strictest lockdown, Sitharaman said. Releasing the state rankings based on the implementation of State Business Reform Action Plan 2019, Sitharaman said Aatmanirbhar Bharat would help India build on its strengths and become self-reliant. (Image: PTI)

7. NK Singh On Finance Commission Report: NK Singh, Chairman of the 15th Finance Commission, dismissed speculation that the Commission will get another extension due to the shadow cast by COVID-19 on economic and fiscal projections, which will aid in deciding formula for sharing of taxes between the Centre and states. To a query raised by CNBC-TV18 on whether the Commission has sought or is planning to seek an extension because of the economic uncertainty caused by COVID-19, Singh replied, “The Finance Commission is not seeking an extension…we will submit out report on October 30…the Commission has got one extension, we will now submit the report on the appointed date.” (Image: PTI)

8. Trump On India-China Border Issue:  Describing the situation along the India-China border as ”very nasty, US President Donald Trump has said that the Chinese are ”going at it much more strongly” than a lot of people understand and he would ”love to get involved and help” ease the tension. Indian and Chinese troops are engaged in a bitter standoff in multiple places in eastern Ladakh for four months. Tensions flared up again in the region after China unsuccessfully attempted to occupy Indian territory in the southern bank of the Pangong lake six days ago when the two sides were engaged in diplomatic and military talks to resolve the border row. ”While we’re at it, we’re talking about China and India are going at it pretty good on the border, as you know. It’s been very nasty, Trump told reporters on Friday at a White House news conference in response to a question on Indian-Americans and the US-India relationship. Trump reiterated that he is talking to both India and China about the situation. (Image: Reuters)

9. NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant On PLI Scheme For Auto: Niti Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant on Saturday said that a lot of spadework has already been done on the production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme for auto and component manufacturers and the government plans to push it forward in a big way. Kant, who was addressing the 60th annual convention of the Association of Auto Component Manufacturers (ACMA) in New Delhi on Saturday, also said that the scrappage policy was at a "very very advanced stage" of the inter-ministerial discussions. The vehicle scrappage policy is aimed at scrapping of old vehicles in exchange for some incentives for consumers. "We at Niti Aayog have done a lot of spadework (on the PLI scheme). The department of heavy industry has actually interacted with the automobile and auto component manufacturers. We would push this (PLI scheme) in a very big way …for auto components and automobile manufacturers," he said. (Photo by Elsa Ruiz)

10. Indian Companies Raise $31 Billion Equity: Indian companies have raised a record $31 billion in equity capital in 2020, Refinitiv data showed, as banks strengthen their balance sheets to prepare for future economic uncertainty and corporates tap into the elevated global liquidity levels. The record raising comes despite India's economy contracting 23.9% in the June-quarter, year on year, which puts it on track for the first annual contraction since 1980. The rush of deals though has not been extended to initial public offerings (IPOs), which have fallen to a five-year low to be worth just $1.5 billion, in the eight months year to date, the data showed. Banks have been the most active issuers, raising $13.68 billion, followed by the energy and power sector with $7.05 billion, and consumer products with $3.41 billion. (stock image)