Domestic stock indices are likely to open on a flat note on Thursday amid a lack of directional cues. Asian market were traded mixed earlier today while US stocks settled lower overnight. Back home, all eyes would be on dozen of quarterly results . Here's what you should know before the Opening Bell:
Nifty outlook
Nifty has recovered from the lower end of a channel since the Budget day, and is now moving towards the higher end, which stood at 17,950-18,000. The market breadth has been positive, indicating a buying interest in the broader market, said Ruchit Jain, Lead Research, 5paisa.com.
"The support for Nifty is placed in the range of 17,800-17,770 for the expiry day and one can look to buy on any declines towards this range. On the flipside, the 17,950-18,000 range is seen as the immediate hurdle, above which the index could see a continuation of movement towards 18,200," he said.
SGX Nifty signals a flat start
Nifty futures on the Singapore Exchange quoted 4.5 points, or 0.03 per cent down at 17,885.50, hinting at a flat start for the domestic market on Thursday.
Asian shares mixed
Asian shares tracked Wall Street fall overnight and opened lower, before turning mixed. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan fell 0.03 per cent. Japan's Nikkei dropped 0.54 per cent; Australia's ASX200 index declined 0.42 per cent; New Zealand's DJ was down 0.47 per cent; China's Shanghai gained 0.71 per cent; Hong Kong's Hang Seng added 0.40 per cent; and Korea’s Kospi index shed 0.10 per cent.
Oil prices edge lower
Oil prices eased a bit in Thursday’s trade. Brent crude futures eased 0.2 per cent to $84.90 a barrel level. US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were trading 0.1 per cent lower at $78.36 a barrel.
Dollar index little changed
The US dollar was little changed on Thursday as investors looked ahead to next week's US inflation data and digested comments from a slew of Federal Reserve officials who said modest interest rate rises were on the way. The dollar index was 0.029 per cent higher on Thursday at 103.460 and the euro was up 0.04 per cent at $1.0713. The Japanese yen weakened 0.11 per cent to 131.54 per dollar, while sterling was last trading at $1.2064, down 0.06 per cent on the day.
US stocks settle lower
US stocks ended down on Wednesday, paring most of the previous session's strong gains, with tech-focused shares leading the way lower. Dow Jones Industrial Average index fell 207.68 points, or 0.61 per cent, to 33,949.01; the S&P500 index lost 46.14 points, or 1.11 per cent, to 4,117.86 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 203.27 points, or 1.68 per cent, to 11,910.52.
Q3 earnings today
Life Insurance Corporation of India, Adani Total Gas, Hindalco Industries, Hindustan Aeronautics, Indian Railway Catering & Tourism Corporation, Indian Overseas Bank, Zomato, Page Industries, United Breweries, MRF, Lupin, Pfizer, Hindustan Petroleum Corporation, General Insurance Corporation of India, Voltas, Aurobindo Pharma and Devyani International are among companies that will announce their December quarter earnings today.
Stocks in F&O ban
Ambuja Cements and Indiabulls Housing Finance are two stocks, which have been put under F&O ban by National Stock Exchange (NSE) for Thursday, February 9. Derivative contracts in a security are banned when it crosses 95 per cent of the market-wide position limit (MWPL). No new positions can be created in the derivative contracts of said security. This prohibition is lifted when the open interest in the stock drops below 80 per cent of the MWPL across exchanges.
FPIs sell shares worth Rs 737 crore
Provisional data available with NSE suggests FPIs turned net sellers of domestic stocks to the tune of Rs 736.82 crore on Wednesday. Domestic institutional investors (DIIs) were buyers of equities to the tune of Rs 941.16 crore.
Rupee rises 6 paise against dollar
The rupee appreciated 16 paise to close at 82.54 against the US dollar on Wednesday after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) hiked the repo rate by 25 basis points. A rally in the domestic equity markets and weakness in the greenback against major crosses overseas also supported the rupee, forex traders said.
Note: With inputs from PTI, Reuters and other agencies
Note: With inputs from PTI, Reuters and other agencies
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