 "10 things you need to know before the opening bell")
Global cues:
Asian stocks were weaker, gold was at two-month highs, the dollar was nursing losses and Treasury yields were at two-year highs as traders debated what differing signals meant for the timing of any tapering of the US Federal Reserve’s stimulus.
The dollar was nursing heavy losses in Asia on Friday after wild swings overnight left dealers struggling to find a pattern amid all the noise, setting the scene for a defensive session into the weekend.At one point, the greenback reached a near two-week high of $1.3205 on the euro and 98.64 against the yen. But then it abruptly crashed to as low as $1.3363 and 97.00.
[caption id=“attachment_1037355” align=“alignright” width=“380”]  Reuters[/caption]
Benchmark US Treasuries yields jumped to two-year highs on Thursday as encouraging jobless claims data reinforced the view that the Federal Reserve is close to scaling back its bond purchases, spurring investors to reduce their debt holdings.
US stocks had the biggest one-day percentage drop since late June on Thursday in higher-than-average trading volume after poor results and outlooks from Dow components Wal-Mart and Cisco.
Gold hit its highest in three weeks on Thursday as uncertainty about potential US Federal Reserve stimulus reduction kept the dollar under pressure, while holdings in the world’s top gold-backed exchange traded fund (ETFs) rose.
Business/ Stock news:
Pharma stocks are in news today as the Parliamentary Committee on Commerce on FDI in the pharmaceutical sector has asked the government to impose a blanket ban on foreign investment in brownfield pharma projects.
Threatened withlegal action by brokers, the National Spot Exchange (NSEL) has come out with a detailed settlement plan for its existing contracts.On July 31, NSEL had said that it was suspending all trades on one-day contracts on the bourse from the next day and would also merge several days’ settlement into one.
Economy news:
A one-time diesel price hike to bridge under-recoveries of oil marketing companies is under consideration, Oil Minister Veerappa Moily told_CNBC-TV18_on Wednesday.
Struggling to stem the rupee’s free fall against the US dollar, the ReserveBank of India(RBI) on Wednesday announced more measures, which are expected to bring down the demand for US dollar purchases in the domestic currency market.The central bank capped the limit for Overseas Direct Investment (ODI) under the automatic route for all fresh transactions from 400 percent of the net worth of an Indian party to 100 percent.
India’s consumption of gold rose to 310 tonnes in the second quarter ended June, highest in the last 10 years, despite government curbs to restrict imports to rein in burgeoning current account deficit, a WGC report said on Thursday.
 "Russian drones over Poland: Trump’s tepid reaction a wake-up call for Nato?")
 "As Russia pushes east, Ukraine faces mounting pressure to defend its heartland")
 "Why Mossad was not on board with Israel’s strike on Hamas in Qatar")
 "Turkey: Erdogan's police arrest opposition mayor Hasan Mutlu, dozens officials in corruption probe")
 "Russian drones over Poland: Trump’s tepid reaction a wake-up call for Nato?")
 "As Russia pushes east, Ukraine faces mounting pressure to defend its heartland")
 "Why Mossad was not on board with Israel’s strike on Hamas in Qatar")
 "Turkey: Erdogan's police arrest opposition mayor Hasan Mutlu, dozens officials in corruption probe")
](https://images.firstpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/stockbroker-reuters7.jpg){kind=link}