D-St set for a negative opening as GIFT Nifty signals weak start

Indian equity benchmarks remained range-bound during Wednesday's session, with the Nifty slipping below the crucial 24,300 mark while the Sensex remained below 77,500. Although Brent crude oil prices cooling towards the $85 per barrel mark provided some relief and supported investor sentiment, persistent geopolitical uncertainties kept market participants cautious. Overall, analysts say Nifty is expected to extend the recent consolidation and trade in the broad range of 24,000-24,700 in the coming sessions.

STATE OF THE MARKETS

GIFT Nifty (Earlier SGX Nifty) signals a negative start

GIFT Nifty on the NSE IX traded lower by 39.50 points, or 0.16 per cent, at 24356.50, signaling that Dalal Street was headed for a negative start on Thursday.


Tech View: A fall below 24,130 could trigger a serious correction, potentially dragging Nifty towards 23,900 and 23,700. On the higher end, a rock-solid resistance is placed at 24,350. Only a sustained move above 24,350 could change the current perception; until then, choppiness is likely to prevail.

India VIX: India VIX, which is a measure of the fear in the markets, fell 4.6% to settle at 10.56 levels.

US tech stocks gain

Nvidia Corp.’s bullish sales outlook lifted US equity-index futures and technology stocks after bolstering optimism that this year’s rally in artificial intelligence shares has further to run.

Asian shares rise

Asian shares gained as Nvidia Corp.’s outlook optimism helped lift MSCI’s Asia Pacific stock gauge 0.6%, with South Korea’s Kospi Index — a bellwether for AI investments — leading the gains.

• S&P 500 futures rose 0.4% as of 9:48 a.m. Tokyo time
• Hang Seng futures fell 0.2%
• Japan’s Topix rose 0.2%
• Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.5%
• Euro Stoxx 50 futures rose 0.1%

Oil prices extend losses

Oil prices fell on Thursday, extending a streak of multiple days of losses, on ​expectations talks between Iran and Qatar ​may open the key Strait of Hormuz and reduce supply disruptions from the ​Middle East war.

Gold firms

Gold prices firmed on Thursday after a more than ​1% drop in the ​previous session, with market focus turning to comments from ​US Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh this week.

Dollar up

The dollar held near an eight-day high on Thursday after US inflation and other ​economic data slightly lifted expectations of ​a Federal Reserve rate hike, ahead of the Jackson Hole central bankers' ​symposium due to begin later in the day.

Read more: Ahead of Market: 10 things that will decide stock market action on Thursday

Stocks in F&O ban today

SAIL

Securities in the ban period under the F&O segment include companies in which the security has crossed 95% of the market-wide position limit.

FII/DII action

Foreign portfolio investors net bought shares worth Rs 503 crore on Wednesday. DIIs, meanwhile, were net buyers at Rs 6425 crore.

(Disclaimer: Recommendations, suggestions, views and opinions given by the experts are their own. These do not represent the views of Economic Times)