Top 10 Things To Know Before The Market Opens

The Indian stock market is expected to open flat as trends on SGX Nifty indicate a cautious opening for the index in India with a 14-point gain.

On January 6, the BSE Sensex fell 621.31 points to close at 59,601.84, while the Nifty50 declined 179.40 points to 17,745.90 and formed bearish candle on the daily charts.

According to pivot charts, the key support levels for the Nifty are placed at 17,668.37, followed by 17,590.83. If the index moves up, the key resistance levels to watch out for are 17,810.67 and 17,875.43.

Stay tuned to Moneycontrol to find out what happens in the currency and equity markets today. We have collated a list of important headlines across news platforms which could impact Indian as well as international markets:

US Markets

The S&P 500 ended a volatile session close to unchanged on Thursday as technology shares fell but financials lent support a day after the market sold off on a hawkish slant in Federal Reserve minutes.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 170.64 points, or 0.47%, to 36,236.47, the S&P 500 lost 4.53 points, or 0.10%, to 4,696.05 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 19.31 points, or 0.13%, to 15,080.87.

Asian Markets

Shares in Asia-Pacific rose in Friday trade following heavy losses for some regional markets in the previous trading day, as investors continue to assess the impact of a potentially faster-than-expected policy tightening by the US Federal Reserve.

The Nikkei 225 rose 0.55%, recovering partially from its nearly 3% drop on Thursday. The Topix index advanced 0.37%.

SGX Nifty

Trends on SGX Nifty indicate a cautious opening for the index in India with a 14-point gain. The Nifty futures were trading at 17,834 on the Singaporean Exchange at around 07:20 hours IST.

Omicron to hit India’s Q4 GDP by 0.40%, dent FY22 growth by 0.1%: Report

The Omicron variant spread will impact the January-March quarter GDP by 0.40 percent and shave off 0.10 per cent from the FY22 growth, as many states resort to restrictions to limit infections, a domestic rating agency said on Thursday. Curbs in various forms such as reducing the capacity of market/market complexes and night/weekend curfews to check human mobility/contact have already started in several states, which are impacting economic activities, India Ratings and Research said in a note.

The economy will bounce back pretty quickly once the third wave subsides, as per the report.

Gold edges higher

Gold inched up on Friday, hovering close to a two-week low hit in the previous session, after the chief of the World Health Organisation (WHO) said the Omicron variant cannot be considered ‘mild’, while stronger yields capped bullion’s gains.

Benchmark US 10-year Treasury yields rose to its strongest level since March 2021, while 10-year TIPS yields hit highest since June 2021. Higher yields raise the opportunity cost of holding gold.

Oil extends rally on Kazakhstan unrest and Libyan outages

Oil prices rose about 2% on Thursday, extending their new year’s rally, on escalating unrest in OPEC+ oil producer Kazakhstan and supply outages in Libya.

Brent crude futures rose $1.19 cents, or 1.5%, to settle at $81.99 a barrel, after hitting their highest since late November. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude gained $1.61, or 2.1%, to $79.46. The contract touched a session high of $80.24.

US jobless claims rise by 7,000, but still low at 207,000

The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits rose last week but remained at historically low levels, suggesting that the job market remains strong. US jobless claims rose by 7,000 last week to 207,000. The four-week average of claims, which smooths out week-to-week gyrations, rose by nearly 4,800 to just below 205,000.

Despite the increases, the numbers show that weekly claims are below the 220,000 typical before the pandemic struck the US economy in March 2020.

India likely to trim fiscal deficit target as Omicron cases rise: Report

India is aiming for a fiscal deficit of 6.3 percent to 6.5 percent of gross domestic product for the next financial year, a less ambitious target than previously planned as COVID-19 infections threaten the economic recovery, three government officials said.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is due to unveil the 2022/2023 federal budget on February 1 and officials said the thinking was that sharp cuts in government expenditure could hurt growth prospects.

The plan now is to target a 30-50 basis point cut in the fiscal deficit for the next financial year, the officials involved in the discussions said. They declined to be named as they were not authorised to speak to media.

FII and DII data

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) net sold shares worth Rs 1,926.77 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) net purchased shares worth Rs 800.91 crore in the Indian equity market on January 6, as per provisional data available on the NSE.

Stocks under F&O ban on NSE

One stock – RBL Bank – is under the F&O ban for January 7. Securities in the ban period under the F&O segment include companies in which the security has crossed 95 percent of the market-wide position limit.

With inputs from Reuters & other agencies