Gift Nifty Points to Flat to Weak Open for Sensex, Nifty on Thursday

Mumbai, October 14: Indian equity markets are set for a flat to marginally weak open on Thursday, with Gift Nifty futures pointing to a start slightly below Wednesday’s close. The signal follows a volatile session in which the Sensex and Nifty 50 gave up part of Tuesday’s sharp rally led by information technology stocks. Crude oil near USD 107 per barrel, persistent foreign investor selling and fresh attacks on shipping around the Strait of Hormuz remain the key triggers for the opening session. 

Gift Nifty Levels 

Gift Nifty futures for the near-month October 27 contract were trading at 22,600.50, down 22.00 points or 0.10 per cent, in late afternoon trade on Wednesday. That is 22.20 points below the Nifty 50’s closing level of 22,622.70, which points to a flat to marginally lower opening on Thursday. The contract opened at 22,737.00 and rose to a high of 22,808.00, but sharp selling in the early afternoon dragged it to a low of 22,560.50, a fall of 247.50 points from the day’s peak. The November 23 contract was quoted at 22,713.50, down 5.00 points or 0.02 per cent. 

Asian Stocks 

Asian markets ended mostly lower on Wednesday, with China’s markets leading the declines. China’s Shenzhen Component fell 1.97 per cent to 12,110.59, the Shanghai Composite lost 0.88 per cent to 3,767.23 and the SGX-CNBC China Growth index shed 0.73 per cent to 1,427.46. Australia’s ASX 200 slipped 0.64 per cent to 8,727.90, South Korea’s Kospi fell 0.44 per cent to 6,008.81, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng lost 0.13 per cent to 24,314.17 and Japan’s Nikkei 225 eased 0.05 per cent to 67,744.29. On the positive side, Taiwan’s index rose 0.59 per cent to 48,625.83, Malaysia gained 0.27 per cent, Thailand’s SET advanced 0.26 per cent to 1,575.88 and New Zealand’s NZX 50 added 0.08 per cent to 13,760.39. 

Oil Prices 

Brent crude rose 0.82 per cent, or USD 0.87, to USD 106.56 per barrel, while West Texas Intermediate gained 1.26 per cent, or USD 1.19, to USD 95.37 per barrel, according to OilPrice.com data on an 11-minute delay. The gap between the two benchmarks stood at USD 11.19 per barrel. Prices stayed elevated as Iranian officials told Reuters that Tehran is changing tactics against ships near the Strait of Hormuz to keep oil prices high before the US midterm elections in November. Attacks on commercial vessels have surged to their highest level since the war began, according to independent data, with at least five incidents reported in the past 48 hours. For India, crude close to USD 107 per barrel adds to worries over inflation, the import bill and the rupee. 

Wednesday’s Close 

The Sensex and Nifty 50 ended lower in volatile trade on Wednesday, giving up ground after the previous session’s sharp rally as elevated crude oil prices, persistent foreign investor outflows and weakness in financial and cyclical stocks weighed on sentiment. The Sensex fell 251.89 points, or 0.34 per cent, to close at 72,781.89, while the Nifty 50 declined 99.25 points, or 0.44 per cent, to settle at 22,622.70, staying below the 22,650 mark. The fall followed a rally of around 1.6 per cent in both benchmarks on Tuesday, led by information technology stocks after HCL Technologies’ better-than-expected quarterly earnings. 

Foreign portfolio investors sold shares worth Rs 1,305 crore on Tuesday, extending their selling streak to 13 consecutive sessions, and year-to-date outflows have reached a record USD 32.52 billion. Domestic institutional investors provided some support, buying shares worth Rs 2,439 crore. Market breadth remained positive despite the fall in the headline indices, with 2,351 shares advancing, 1,694 declining and 129 unchanged, while the Nifty Midcap and Smallcap indices ended with marginal losses. 

The Nifty IT index extended its recovery after gaining 5.2 per cent on Tuesday, with Infosys (INFY) and Tech Mahindra (TECHM) among the top Nifty 50 gainers, alongside Nestle India (NESTLEIND), Tata Consumer Products (TATACONSUM) and Coal India (COALINDIA). IT, energy, oil and gas, media and FMCG stocks advanced around 0.5 to 1 per cent, while pharma stocks dragged. 

Sources

•  Gift Nifty
• NSE data
• BSE
• Reuters
• CNBC
• OilPrice.com