The Indian equity benchmarks are set to open lower as indicated by the Nifty Futures on Singapore Exchange amid weak global cues. The Nifty Futures on Singapore Exchange also known as SGX Nifty Futures fell 45 points to 16,524. Asian shares followed their US counterparts on the downside after the fastest inflation in four decades in US stoked concerns of aggressive rate hikes by central bank.
Foreign Flows
The foreign institutional investors continue to sell shares in Indian markets as they sold shares worth Rs 1,9981 crore on Thursday while domestic institutional investors biufgt shares worth Rs 946 crore.
Asian Markets
Most of the Asian markets were trading lower on Friday after the fastest U.S. inflation in four decades and a hawkish European Central Bank (ECB) bolstered expectations for more aggressive rate hikes, hammering sentiment already stung by the Ukraine war, news agency Reuters reported. Risk appetite suffered more broadly as investors braced for faster tightening of monetary conditions after data on Thursday showed a 7.9 per cent annualised jump in U.S. consumer inflation in February, the largest increase in 40 years.
Japan's Nikkei fell 2.44 per cent, Hang Seng slumped 3.23 per cent and Straits Times dclined 0.2 per cent.
US Markets
Technology companies led stocks lower Thursday after another day of choppy trading on Wall Street as global markets keep swinging on uncertainty about where inflation, interest rates and the global economy are heading.
The S&P 500 fell 0.4 per cent, its fifth drop in the last six days. The slide marks another reversal for U.S. stocks, which just a day earlier surged to their biggest gain since June 2020 when a tumble for oil prices seemed to take some pressure off the world’s high inflation.
Russia-Ukraine War
The Russian invasion of Ukraine entered its third week on Thursday, with Russian forces continuing to bombard major cities.
Satellite photos show that a massive Russian convoy that had been mired outside the Ukrainian capital since last week has fanned out into towns and forests, with artillery pieces moved into firing positions
Thousands of people have been killed and more than 2.3 million have fled the country since Russian troops crossed into Ukraine on Feb. 24. Besieged cities have been suffering from shortages of food, medicine, heat and electricity.
The foreign ministers of Russia and Ukraine met on Thursday in a Turkish resort but weren’t able to find common ground. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said concerns expressed about civilian casualties are “pathetic shrieks” from Russia’s enemies. He even denied that Ukraine has been invaded.
Oil Prices
Oil prices had their own swings Thursday, with a barrel of U.S. crude jumping as much as 5.7 per cent, before flip-flopping between gains and losses. It settled at $106.02, down 2.5 per cent. Recent surges for energy prices have raised the risk that the economy is set to struggle under a toxic cocktail of stagnating growth and persistently high inflation.
Oil’s back-and-forth moves were just some of the waves of reports that buffeted markets worldwide. The European Central Bank said high inflation will push it to wrap up its bond-buying program meant to boost its economy faster than expected. In the U.S., a report showed that consumer prices leaped 7.9 per cent in February from a year earlier. It’s the sharpest spike since 1982, though the reading was largely within expectations.
