SGX Nifty up 5 points; here’s what changed for market while you were sleeping

STATE OF THE MARKETS


SGX Nifty signals a flat start
Nifty futures on the Singapore Exchange traded 5 points, or 0.03 per cent, higher at 16,502.5, signalling that Dalal Street was headed for a muted start on Thursday.

• Tech View: The Nifty50 on Wednesday climbed for the fourth straight session and, in the process, topped the 16,500 level on a closing basis. That said, the index ended up forming an indecisive bearish candle on the daily chart after a gap-up opening, suggesting investors were indecisive at highs. Analysts see selling at highs.
• India VIX: The fear gauge dropped more than 2 per cent to 16.82 level on Wednesday over its close at 17.20 on Tuesday.

Asian shares open mostly lower
Asian stocks opened mostly lower Thursday morning, with traders struggling to maintain momentum from the previous day’s rally and eyes focused on Europe, hoping Russia fulfills a pledge to switch a crucial gas pipeline back on. MSCI’s index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was down by 0.23 per cent.

• Japan’s Nikkei dropped 0.30%
• Australia’s ASX 200 shed 0.09%
• New Zealand’s DJ jumped 1.04%
• South Korea’s Kospi jumped 0.26%
• China’s Shanghai declined 0.24%
• Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 0.69%

US stocks settled higher
US stocks ended higher on Wednesday, extending the prior session’s rally into a second day, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq booking a 1.6 per cent gain on positive earnings signals with a wary eye on inflation and more interest rate hikes by the Fed.

• Dow Jones gained 0.15% to 31,874.84
• S&P 500 jumped 0.59% to 3,959.90
• Nasdaq zoomed 1.58% to 11,897.65

Oil prices edged lower
Oil prices fell on Thursday for a second straight session, as demand concerns outweighed tight global supply after U.S. government data showed tepid gasoline demand during the peak summer driving season.

Brent crude futures fell 37 cents, or 0.3 per cnet, to $106.55 a barrel by 0003 GMT. WTI crude futures fell 33 cents, or 0.3 per cent, to $99.55 a barrel.

FIIs buy shares worth Rs 1,781 cr
Net-net, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) turned buyers of domestic stocks to the tune of Rs 1,780.94 crore, data available with NSE suggested. However, DIIs turned net sellers to the tune of Rs 230.22 crore, data suggests.

Stocks in F&O ban today
Only one stock- Delta Corp- is under the F&O ban for Thursday, July 21. Securities in the ban period under the F&O segment include companies in which the security has crossed 95 per cent of the market-wide position limit.

Q1 results today
Hindustan Zinc, SRF,

, , , , , , , Energy (India), , , PVR, and are among the companies that will announce their earnings for the quarter ended June 2022.

MONEY MARKETS

Rupee: The rupee for the first time dropped below the 80 level against the US currency on Wednesday due to strong dollar demand from importers and fiscal slippage concerns. The local unit closed at a record low of 80.05 to a dollar, showing a net loss of 13 paise over the previous close.

10-year bonds: India 10-year bond jumped about 0.20 per cent to 7.45 after trading in 7.43 – 7.47 range on Wednesday.

Call rates: The overnight call money rate weighted average stood at 4.74 per cent on Tuesday, according to RBI data. It moved in a range of 2.50-4.92 per cent.