Sensex Today Live | Share Market Updates: Equities remained under pressure on Friday, failing to fully shake off New Year’s blues after US unemployment data indicated a resilient labor market, softening expectations of a Federal Reserve interest rate hike in 2024.
Forex traders now see about a 65% chance the Fed will cut rates at the March Fed meeting, down from about 85% a week ago. Friday’s key US jobs data for December may offer more clarity on the way forward for interest rates. Nonfarm payrolls likely rose by 175,000 last month, while the unemployment rate is seen rising slightly to 3.8%, according to economists polled by Bloomberg.
The latest catalyst for easing the Fed’s rate-cutting bets came from more resilient US labor market data on Thursday, putting less pressure on the central bank to rush to ease policy.
Traders now see slightly better than 2-in-3 odds that the Fed will cut rates by March, down from a 71% chance a week earlier, according to the CME Group’s Fedwatch tool.
The release of monthly U.S. payrolls ramps up later in the day, with investors “agonizing” over the timing and pace of rate hikes, according to Kyle Rodda, senior financial market analyst at Capital.com.
Sensex Today Live: Stocks to Watch
Grasim, SBI, Dabur India, L&T Finance, Lupin, RBL Bank, among others, will be in focus today.
Chambal Fertilizers & Chemicals, Escorts Kubota, GNFC, India Cements, Balrampur Chini Mills, Delta Corp, Hindustan Copper, Indian Energy Exchange, National Aluminum Company, SAIL and Zee Entertainment Enterprises are on the F&O ban list for 5 January.
Sensex Today Live: GIFT Nifty trades flat
GIFT Nifty futures traded 13 points higher at 21,771, indicating a flat start for Indian benchmarks.
India’s benchmark indices ended higher on Thursday after retreating from near record highs in the past two sessions, even as investors continued to worry about the timing of US rates after the Federal Reserve minutes.
On Thursday, the Sensex jumped 490.97 points to settle at 71,847.57, while the broader Nifty climbed 141.25 points to end the day at 21,658.60.
Sensex Today Live: Asian markets under pressure on Fed rate easing expectations
Asian stocks faltered on Friday, keeping global equities on track to snap a nine-week winning streak, as bets on aggressive rates from the Federal Reserve were backed off.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was down 0.1% in the Asian morning, and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng slipped 0.18%.
The MSCI world index was roughly flat so far on the day, but headed for a 1.7% decline this week.
Japan’s Nikkei was a bit of an outlier, rebounding 0.5% on Friday as exporters got a boost from the yen’s slide back to just shy of 145 per dollar amid a rise in US Treasury yields.
Overnight on Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.03%, the S&P 500 lost 0.34% and the Nasdaq Composite fell 0.56%.
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