The Indian equity market is likely to open lower on Friday after it saw a steep fall later in the day yesterday and ended flat in the highly volatile session.
The SGX Nifty signals negative start for the Indian markets as Nifty futures on the Singapore Exchange traded 236 points, or 1.41 per cent, lower at 16,455.
In the global markets. US stocks witnessed a sharp rout in overnight trade over fresh rate hike concerns to tame inflation. Major Asian hubs opened with big cuts during early hours.
Back home, at closing time yesterday, the Sensex was up 33.20 points at 55,702.23, and the Nifty was up 5.10 points at 16,682.70.
IndusInd Bank, Tata Consumer Products, Britannia Industries, UltraTech Cement and Nestle India were among the top Nifty losers, while gainers were Tech Mahindra, Hero MotoCorp, Infosys, HCL Technology and Wipro.
Among sectors, power, capital goods and IT indices rose 1-2 percent each. However, realty, FMCG and pharma indices fell 0.5-1.5 percent.
Stocks in focus today
Tata Motors, TVS Motor Company, Mahindra and Mahindra, Ceat, Tech Mahindra, DLF, GAIL, Ashok Leyland
Results Today
Reliance Industries, Canara Bank, Tata Power Company, Federal Bank, Bajaj Consumer Care, Apollo Pipes, Shipping Corporation of India, Reliance Home Finance will release their quarterly earnings today.
Asian market
Major Asian stocks opened lower on Friday after US stocks plunged on renewed anxiety over rising interest rates. MSCI's index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was down by 1.25 per cent.
Japan's Nikkei dropped 0.34%, Australia's ASX 200 tanked 2.53%, South Korea's Kospi plunged 1.33%, New Zealand's DJ tumbled 2.33%, China's Shanghai retreated 0.02%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng shed 0.03%
Wall Street wipeout
Wall Street tumbled after having jumped the previous day on the Federal Reserve holding back on aggressively raising rates.
The S&P 500 fell 3.7% as of 11:55 a.m. The Dow Jones Industrial average stumbled 1,100 points, or 3.3%, to 32,945 and the Nasdaq lost 5%.
Oil falls
Oil prices dipped at the start of Asian trade on Friday as worries about an economic downturn that could dampen demand for crude vied with concerns over new sanctions from the European Union against Russia, including an embargo on crude oil.
Brent futures fell 37 cents, or 0.3%, to $110.53 a barrel by 0015 GMT, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude fell 33 cents, or 0.3%, to $107.93 a barrel.
