Before Market Opens: Indian markets are likely to open higher on Wednesday despite caution in Asian markets even after Wall Street ended higher in overnight offers. Meanwhile, Gift Nifty traded 22 points higher, indicating a positive start for benchmark Nifty. Let’s look at some key indicators before the market opens today:
U.S. stock market indexes ended higher on Tuesday led by energy and tech stocks, as investors looked ahead to the Federal Reserve’s policy meeting for clues on interest rate policy. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 320.33 points, or 0.83%, to 39,110.76, and the S&P 500 rose 29.09 points, or 0.56%, to 5,178.51. The Nasdaq Composite closed 63.34 points, or 0.39%, higher at 16,166.79.
Asian stocks faltered on Wednesday on worries that the Federal Reserve could signal a slower path of rate cuts this year, while the yen plunged to a fresh four-month low on expectations that policy in Japan will remain accommodative for some time. Tokyo’s Nikkei is closed for a holiday in Japan, but yen weakness lifted Nikkei futures by 0.6%, a day after the Bank of Japan ended years of negative interest rates in a well-telegraphed move. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan gained 0.2%. Australia’s resource-heavy shares were 0.3% higher, while China’s blue chips slipped 0.2% and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index fell 0.5%.
On Tuesday, Indian stock market indices closed with heavy losses amid selling across the board as investors remained cautious following the Bank of Japan’s decision to raise interest rates for the first time in 17 years, ending eight years of negative interest rate policy. The Sensex shed 736.37 points, or 1.01%, to end at 72,012.05, while the Nifty 50 settled 238.25 points, or 1.08%, lower at 21,817.45.
At 8:25 am, Gift Nifty was trading 22 points or 0.15 percent higher at 21,910, indicating a positive opening for the Indian markets.
Oil prices edged lower in early Asian trade on Wednesday as a stronger dollar curbed investor appetite as traders took some cash off the table after benchmarks surged to multi-month highs in each of the past two sessions. Brent crude futures for May delivery fell 19 cents, or 0.2%, to $87.19 a barrel by 0104 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate futures for April delivery, which expire at Wednesday’s settlement, fell 35 cents, or 0.4%, to $83.12 a barrel.
The People’s Bank of China kept its benchmark lending rates unchanged at a monthly setting on Wednesday, in line with market expectations. The one-year lending rate (LPR) was kept at 3.45%, while the five-year LPR was unchanged at 3.95%.
The Japanese yen languished near a four-month low against the US dollar and a 16-year trough against the euro on Wednesday, a day after the Bank of Japan decided to end its negative interest rate policy and announced its first rate hike in 17 years. . On Wednesday, the yen weakened to a four-month low of 151.34 per dollar and was last up 0.30% at 151.28. Against the euro, the yen weakened to 164.35, its lowest since 2008, while against the pound, the yen weakened to 192.37, its lowest since 2015.
Gold prices were stuck in a tight range on Wednesday as investors refrained from making big bets ahead of the US Federal Reserve’s policy decision and remarks from Fed Chairman Jerome Powell later in the day. Spot gold was up 0.1% at $2,159.50 an ounce, as of 0123 GMT. U.S. gold futures also rose 0.1% to $2,162.60.
Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) bought stocks net ₹1,421.48 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) bought ₹7,449.48 crore shares on March 19, provisional data from the NSE showed.
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Published: 20 Mar 2024, 08:32 IST