Gift Nifty Points to Modestly Higher Opening for Sensex, Nifty on Monday

Mumbai, Oct 9: Gift Nifty suggests that Indian benchmark indices could open modestly higher on Monday, extending Friday’s sharp rebound that ended the longest weekly losing run for Indian shares in a quarter-century. Elevated crude prices, foreign selling and worries over tighter monetary policy remain concerns for investors. 

The near-month contract stood at 22,588.00 on Friday, down 14.50 points, or 0.06 per cent, from its previous closing price of 22,602.50. This is about 68 points higher than the Nifty 50’s Friday close of 22,520.45. The market could therefore open with a mildly positive bias after the day’s strong recovery. 

The contract opened at 22,389.00 and moved between a high of 22,661.00 and a low of 22,326.50, a range of 334.50 points. It jumped sharply around 9 am, dipped towards 22,500 near noon and touched its high in the afternoon, and was about 199 points above its opening level at the last reading. The November contract stood at 22,690.00, unchanged from its previous close. 

Weekly Gains End Long Losing Run, but Risks Persist 

Friday’s recovery followed Thursday’s steep selloff, when foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) sold a net Rs 12,944 crore of Indian equities, their largest single-day outflow since May 29, while domestic institutional investors bought Rs 10,703 crore.  

Rising crude, higher global bond yields, rupee weakness and the Reserve Bank of India’s hawkish rate hike earlier in the week continue to weigh on risk appetite. Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) rose 3.8 per cent after reporting faster growth in artificial intelligence revenue, and said the US suspension of firms from the Permanent Labor Certification Program was not expected to materially affect its workforce strategy, though uncertainty over US immigration rules lingers. 

Asian Markets 

Asian markets ended mostly higher on Friday, led by Hong Kong’s Hang Seng, which rallied 1.79 per cent to 24,211.35. Australia’s ASX 200 gained 0.64 per cent to 8,716.60, New Zealand’s NZX 50 rose 0.42 per cent to 13,749.35, Malaysia’s index added 0.46 per cent to 1,608.45 and Thailand’s SET advanced 0.45 per cent to 1,577.65. In mainland China, the Shanghai Composite edged up 0.05 per cent to 3,813.79 and the Shenzhen index gained 0.17 per cent to 12,641.86. Japan’s Nikkei slipped 0.02 per cent to 69,030.92 and Singapore’s Straits Times fell 0.2 per cent to 5,401.89. 

Oil Prices 

Oil prices eased on Friday, with Brent crude down 1.14 per cent at USD 103.09 a barrel and WTI crude lower by 0.69 per cent at USD 90.86, although both remain at elevated levels. Murban crude, the benchmark most relevant to Asian buyers, slipped 1.80 per cent to USD 108.48. Gasoline fell 0.19 per cent to USD 3.310, heating oil lost 0.18 per cent to USD 4.874 and natural gas dropped 1.55 per cent to USD 3.119. Mars crude bucked the trend, gaining 0.42 per cent to USD 131.45. 

Market Wrap-Up 

Indian equity benchmarks staged a sharp rebound on Friday as buying in information technology, fast-moving consumer goods and banking stocks lifted sentiment, with the Sensex rising 879 points, or 1.23 per cent, to 72,472 and the Nifty 50 gaining 289 points, or 1.30 per cent, to 22,520 after the closing auction session. Breadth was positive, with 2,344 shares advancing against 1,686 declining. The Nifty IT index climbed 3 per cent and the Nifty FMCG index rose 2.2 per cent, while the Nifty PSU Bank and Nifty Bank indices gained 1.6 per cent and 1.4 per cent, respectively. Apollo Hospitals (APOLLOHOSP) was the top Nifty 50 gainer at 4.7 per cent, followed by ITC (ITC) at 4.3 per cent, Eicher Motors (EICHERMOT) at 4.2 per cent, TCS (TCS) at 3.8 per cent and HCL Technologies (HCLTECH) at 3.4 per cent. The Nifty Midcap 100 rose 1.6 per cent, the Nifty Smallcap 100 gained 0.5 per cent and India VIX fell 6 per cent. 

Sources

• Gift Nifty data
• NSE
• BSE
• www.cnbc.com
• www.oilprice.com