GIFT Nifty futures, trading marginally ahead at 25,151.50, at 8:00 AM, from the Nifty futures’ last close at 25,131, indicated a slightly positive bias for markets at open today.
This was ahead of a key press conference by the RBI Governor to announce the decision of the central bank’s monetary policy meeting, apart from commentary on inflation and GDP growth projections.
Markets in the Asia Pacific region, meanwhile, were down on Wednesday, with mainland China leading the loses.
Back home, investors in India will have their eyes trained on the RBI monetary policy committee decision announcement scheduled for 10 AM by the Reserve Bank of India Governor Shaktikanta Das.
The Indian central bank governor is expected to annonuce to hold interest rates at current levels, but his commentary on inflation expectations and GDP growth estimates is what investors will be eying.
The Indian stock markets returned to their winning ways on Tuesday, snapping their 5-day losing run.
The BSE Sensex today gained 584.81 points, or 0.72 per cent, to end at 81,634.8 levels. The Nifty50, too, shut shop at 25,013.15, up 217.38 points or 0.88 per cent as investors digested the Assembly elections results in Haryana and Jammu and Kashmir, while the dazzling rally in China stocks moderated.
In the broader markets, the BSE MidCap index rose 1.86 per cent, and the BSE SmallCap index 2.44 per cent. The broader indices outperformed the benchmark indices today.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index dragged 0.29 per cent after plummeting 9.41 per cent to close at 20,926.79 on the previous day.
Mainland China’s CSI 300 index was down 4.33 per cent, while the Shanghai Composite was down 3.68 per cent.
That apart, Japan’s Nikkei 225 was up 0.8 per cent, and the broader Topix was ahead by 0.31 per cent.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 was up 0.15 per cent, while South Korea’s markets remained closed for a public holiday.
On the previous day, a gauge of global stocks advanced after a rally on Wall Street overshadowed disappointment over the lack of details in China’s stimulus, as investor focus shifts to upcoming US inflation data and corporate earnings.
On Wall Street, US stocks closed sharply higher as the benchmark S&P 500 bounced back from a drop of nearly 1 per cent a day earlier, with a jump of more than 2 per cent in technology stocks providing key support.
Stocks had stumbled on Monday on increasing concerns about a wider conflict in the Middle East and as last week’s solid US payrolls report caused a reassessment on the size and pace of interest rate cuts from the Federal Reserve.
Investors are also eyeing Thursday’s inflation reading with the release of the latest consumer price index (CPI), while banks are scheduled to kick off the corporate earnings season at the end of the week.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 126.13 points, or 0.30 per cent, to 42,080.37, the S&P 500 rose 55.19 points, or 0.97 per cent, to 5,751.13 and the Nasdaq Composite rose 259.01 points, or 1.45 per cent, to 18,182.92.
European shares closed lower, as a lack of details on China’s long-awaited fiscal stimulus weighed on sectors related to the world’s second-largest economy, such as mining and luxury goods.
MSCI’s gauge of stocks across the globe advanced 1.24 points, or 0.15 per cent, to 844.96. The STOXX 600 index ended 0.55 per cent lower.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index had plunged 9.4 per cent, its biggest drop since 2008, erasing some of the big gains made during a Chinese holiday, after government economic planner Zheng Shanjie told reporters that China is “fully confident” of achieving economic targets for 2024 and would pull forward 200 billion yuan ($28.36 billion) from next year’s budget to spend on investment projects and support local governments.
But a failure to sufficiently detail new or large measures sparked concerns about China’s commitment to pull the economy out of its current slump.
The Shanghai Composite and blue-chip CSI300, both of which were closed during the holiday, ended 4.6 per cent and 5.9 per cent higher, respectively, paring earlier gains of more than 10 per cent.
US Treasury yields were slightly lower in choppy trading on factors such as Federal Reserve monetary policy, investor positioning, and economic outlooks affected market moves.
Expectations for a 25-basis-point rate cut from the Fed at its November meeting stand at 87.3 per cent, according to CME’s FedWatch Tool.
The yield on benchmark US 10-year notes dipped 0.6 basis point to 4.02 per cent.
Oil prices dropped, following a recent rally sparked by rising hostilities in the Middle East.
US crude settled down 4.63 per cent to $73.57 a barrel, and Brent tumbled to settle at $77.18 per barrel, also down 4.63 per cent.
The dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of currencies, was unchanged at 102.48, with the euro up 0.04 per cent at $1.0978.