The Indian equity benchmarks are set to open lower on Thursday as indicated by the Nifty Futures traded on the Singapore Exchange ahead of weekly expiry of index futures and option contracts. The Nifty Futures on Singapore Exchange also known as SGX Nifty Futures fell 31 points or 0.2 per cent to 15,942.
Benchmark equity indices Sensex and Nifty reversed their early gains to close lower on Thursday due to selling in oil & gas, banking and IT stocks amid weak trends in European markets.
The 30-share BSE Sensex declined by 372.46 points or 0.69 per cent to close at 53,514.15, extending its falling streak to the third day.
The index opened higher and touched the day's high of 54,211.22 amid gains in Asian markets. However, it failed to hold onto its gains and dropped over 750 points to touch a low of 53,455.26 as European markets opened lower.
Here are key things to know before market opens on Thursday:
Asia Markets
Asian shares struggled on Thursday and the safe haven dollar was strong as white hot U.S. inflation data drove fear the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates even more aggressively to slow price increases, potentially sending the economy into recession.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan lost 0.1%, hovering just above the two-year low hit on Tuesday, while U.S. Nasdaq futures shed 0.3%.
Most of the Asian markets were trading higher. Japan's Nikkei rose 0.87 per cent, Hong Kong's Hang Seng advanced 0.19 per cent, South Korea's KOSPI fell 0.2 per cent and Taiwan Weighted rose 0.3 per cent.
US Markets
Stocks capped another shaky day on Wall Street with more losses Wednesday, after a highly anticipated report on inflation turned out to be even worse than expected.
The S&P 500 ended 0.4% lower, its fourth consecutive drop, after tumbling as much as 1.6% earlier. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.7%, while the Nasdaq composite dropped 0.2%, erasing nearly all of an early 2.1% loss.
Markets took a few U-turns through the morning, as has become the norm on Wall Street this tumultuous year. They were following the lead of Treasury yields in the bond market, which initially surged on expectations that Federal Reserve policymakers will hike interest rates drastically to slow the nation’s skyrocketing inflation.
Crude Oil and Gold Price Check
Benchmark U.S. crude oil for August delivery rose 46 cents to $96.30 a barrel Wednesday. Brent crude for September delivery rose 8 cents to $99.57 a barrel.
Gold for August delivery rose $10.70 to $1,735.50 an ounce. Silver for September delivery rose 23 cents to $19.19 an ounce and September copper rose 3 cents to $3.32 a pound.
The dollar rose to 137.32 Japanese yen from 136.77 yen. The euro rose to $1.0062 from $1.0045.
Foreign Flows
Foreign institutional investors on Monday sold shares worth Rs 2840 crore while domestic institutional investors bought shares worth Rs 1799 crore.
Rupee Check
The rupee started the session on a flat note against the US dollar on Wednesday amid a rally in the equity markets and easing retail inflation.
A strong greenback against major currencies and foreign capital outflows kept investors cautious in early trading, forex dealers said.
At the interbank foreign exchange, the rupee opened strong at 79.55 against the American dollar, then turned volatile to trade in a tight range of 79.53 to 79.60. The domestic unit was trading at 79.58 against the greenback in early deals, registering a gain of just 1 paisa over the last close.
Jubilant Pharma: Jubilant Pharma Holdings on Wednesday said it has signed an agreement with Standard Chartered Bank for a five-year loan of USD 400 million, about Rs 3,186 crore.
Majority of the amount will be used for repayment of existing term loan and debt bonds, the company said in a regulatory filing.
JSW Energy: JSW Energy on Wednesday said its subsidiary JSW Neo Energy has bagged a 300 MW wind energy project from Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI).
JSW Neo Energy Limited, a wholly-owned subsidiary of JSW Energy Limited, has received the letter of award (LoA) for a total wind capacity of 300 MW from Solar Energy Corporation of India Limited (SECI), JSW Energy said in a statement.
Dabur India: Dabur India through its subsidiaries has acquired the entire stake in Bangladesh-based Asian Consumer Care from its joint venture partner Advanced Chemical Industries for about Rs 51 crore.
Dabur held 76 per cent stake in the firm before acquisition through its subsidiary Dabur International, while the remaining 24 per cent was held by Advanced Chemical Industries, the company said in a regulatory filing.
Infosys: Infosys on Wednesday said it will acquire Denmark-based BASE life science for about 110 million euros (Rs 875 crore) in an all-cash deal.
The acquisition will deepen Infosys' expertise in life sciences domain as well as strengthen its footprint across Europe.
Mindtree: IT company Mindtree on Wednesday posted a 37.3 per cent rise in net profit at Rs 471.6 crore for the three months ended on June 30, 2022.
The company had reported a net profit of Rs 343.4 crore in the corresponding quarter of the previous fiscal.
The revenue for the current fiscal's first quarter came in at Rs 3,121.1 crore, logging a growth of over 36 per cent year-on-year.
