Sensex, Nifty lacklustre on weak global cues amid US debt ceiling woes

Indian equity indices opened flat on Thursday amid a slide in global equities as US debt ceiling negotiations continued with no resolution in sight and weighed on sentiment.

The BSE Sensex was trading 48 points or 0.08% lower at 61,726. Nifty50 was trading at 18,269, down 16 points or 0.09% at around 9.17 am.

Among the Sensex stocks, Tata Motors, Wipro, IndusInd Bank, Tech Mahindra, HCL Tech, and Sun Pharma opened in the red, while Power Grid, ITC, Kotak Bank, Nestle, M&M, and HUL opened with gains.


Shares of LIC opened over 3% higher after the firm's profit after tax grew multifold to Rs 13,428 crore in Q4 FY23. Meanwhile, Nykaa shares rose 1.3% post Q4 earnings.

On the sectoral front, Nifty PSU Bank fell 0.59% and Nifty Metal dropped 0.30%. Nifty Financial Services and Nifty Auto also opened lower. In the broader market, Nifty Midcap 100 opened flat, while Nifty Smallcap 100 gained 0.10%.

Global Markets
Wall Street's main indexes ended lower on Wednesday as talks between the White House and Republican representatives on raising the US debt ceiling dragged on without a deal. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.77%, the S&P 500 lost 0.73%, and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 0.61%.

Asian shares fell to a two-month low on Thursday as the impasse in negotiations to raise the US debt ceiling kept investors wary of risky assets due to the hit the global economy will take if the US government defaults.

Japan's Nikkei remained an outlier for the region, gaining 0.58%. China's Shanghai Composite declined 0.66%, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng index fell 1.96% in early trading.

Experts View
"The uncertain stance of the Fed and ongoing talks about the US debt ceiling are casting a shadow of volatility in the markets. With the Nifty facing potential trouble ahead of the June 1st deadline, cautiousness prevails," Prashanth Tapse, Senior VP (Research) at Mehta Equities, said.

"Technical conditions indicate an overbought state, highlighting the need for caution. Nifty's major obstacles lie at the 18473 mark, and only surpassing this level will set the stage for its all-time high at 18888," Tapse added.

Deepak Jasani, Head of Retail Research at HDFC Securities said, "18420-18432 remains a resistance for the Nifty while 18201 is the immediate support."

Crude oil
Oil prices fell in early Asian trading on Thursday after uncertainty that the United States will avoid a debt default weighed against the prospect of further OPEC+ production cuts.

Brent crude futures slipped 5 cents, or 0.1%, to $78.31 a barrel. US West Texas Intermediate crude (WTI) fell 16 cents, or 0.2%, to $74.18.

Rupee declines
The Indian rupee rose 8 paise to $82.76 against the US dollar in early trade. The dollar index, which tracks the movement of the greenback against a basket of six major world currencies, surged 0.15% to 104.04 level.

(With inputs from agencies)

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