D-St set for a cautious opening as GIFT Nifty signals muted start

Benchmark indices witnessed a volatile session on Wednesday, with profit booking emerging, as investors turned cautious ahead of key US inflation data. Sentiment received some support from easing intraday Brent crude oil prices and rupee appreciation, although these factors were insufficient to sustain the recovery. On the higher side, analysts say index needs to start forming higher high and higher low on a sustained basis in the weekly chart and reclaim 23,100 levels being the recent breakdown area to signal a pause in the last 2 months sharp decline.

STATE OF THE MARKETS

GIFT Nifty (Earlier SGX Nifty) signals a muted start

GIFT Nifty on the NSE IX traded lower by 15 points, or 0.07 per cent, at 22,607.5, signaling that Dalal Street was headed for a muted start on Thursday.


Tech View: On the upside, resistance is placed at 22,650 and 22,800. On the downside, immediate support is seen at 22,500, below which selling pressure could intensify, triggering a sharp decline.

India VIX: India VIX, which is a measure of the fear in the markets, rose 4% to settle at 14.62 levels.

Asian shares fall

A selloff in global equities spread to Asia as losses in chip stocks deepened after faster-than-expected US inflation fueled bets that the Federal Reserve will need to raise interest rates further. Treasuries rallied on haven demand.

• S&P 500 futures fell 0.3% as of 10:06 a.m. Tokyo time
• Hang Seng futures fell 1.1%
• Nikkei 225 futures (OSE) fell 4.2%
• Japan’s Topix fell 2%
• Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.3%
• Euro Stoxx 50 futures fell 0.8%

US stocks end lower

Hotter-than-expected inflation data sent the Nasdaq to a sharply lower close on Wednesday, with worries about more interest rate hikes from the Federal Reserve pummeling shares of Oracle, CoreWeave and other AI stocks sensitive to higher borrowing costs.

Increased bets that the Fed will need more rate hikes to tame inflation dealt a sharp blow to some of the market's biggest gainers of 2026. Oracle lost 8.8%, while AI-infrastructure firms CoreWeave and Nebius tumbled 15% and 10%, respectively.

Oil prices slip

Oil prices fell more than $1 in early trade on Thursday as investors weighed risks to supply from attacks on shipping through the Strait of Hormuz against US efforts to cut petroleum shipping costs by easing sanctions on vessels.

Gold steadies

Gold prices were nearly steady on Thursday after touching a one-week low in the previous session as hot inflation data boosted expectations of a US Federal Reserve rate hike this month.

Dollar slips

The dollar slipped from an 18-month peak on Thursday despite hotter-than-expected inflation data, as cautious remarks from Federal Reserve officials and a pullback in Treasury yields led traders to scale back expectations of an October rate hike.

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

Stocks in F&O ban today

1) Ambuja Cement

2) Kaynes

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.

Read more: Sebi confirms interim curbs on Rajesh Exports, says financial disclosure concerns remain unresolved

FII/DII action

Foreign portfolio investors net sold shares worth Rs 1,857 crore on Wednesday. DIIs, meanwhile, were net buyers at Rs 2,670 crore.

Rupee

The rupee appreciated 19 paise to close at 95.17 against the US dollar on Wednesday, registering the fourth straight session of gain, supported by Reserve Bank of India interventions designed to ease near-term dollar demand and limit speculative foreign exchange exposure.

Disclosure: This article has been written by Podishetti Akash, who is not a SEBI-registered Research Analyst or an Investment Adviser. Podishetti Akash and his ‘relative(s)’ (as defined under Section 2(77) of the Companies Act, 2013) do not hold any financial interest in the companies mentioned in this article as of the date of publication. The views/recommendations mentioned in this article, wherever applicable, are those of the respective SEBI-registered Research Analyst/brokerage and have been reproduced/reported with due attribution. They should not be construed as the views or recommendations of The Economic Times Digital or the journalist. Readers are advised to consider the original research report and make their investment decisions based on their own assessment. Brokerage disclosures here