GIFT Nifty down 129 points: Asian markets, crude oil prices, dollar movement & more

Domestic benchmark indices are set to kick-off the new week with a gap-down opening amid the rising geopolitical tensions between Israel and Palestine. The conflict in the middle-east sparked the crude oil prices and traders rushed to safe havens like bonds and the dollar. Most Asian markets observed a public holiday, while US markets opened with gains in the overnight trade. Back home, investors are building up expectations on Q2 earnings session. Here's what you should know before the Opening Bell:

Nifty outlook
Ashwin Ramani, Derivatives & Technical Analyst, SAMCO Securities said Nifty has given a consecutive higher close on the daily chart, indicating a trend reversal. "It has closed above the 50-DEMA of 19,559 as it touched the 38.2 per cent Fibonacci retracement level of 19,673, drawn from the high of 20,222. The support for Nifty shifts to 19,600 after a strong closing," he said.

Nifty Bank outlook
For Nifty Bank, 44,000 would act as a key support zone. It may rally till the 50-day SMA or 44,800-45,000 levels. If Nifty Bank falls below 44,000, the uptrend may be vulnerable, said Athawale, Vice President for technical research at Kotak Securities.

GIFT Nifty signals a negative start
Nifty futures on the NSE International Exchange traded 129 points, or 0.65 per cent, lower at 19,641, hinting at a negative start for the domestic market on Monday.

Most Asian markets shut today
Most Asian markets observed holiday on Monday. The ones that were opened fell amid clashes in the Middle East with Hamas. The MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was up 0.18 per cent. Japan's Nikkei fell 0.10 per cent; Australia's ASX 200 jumped 0.51 per cent; New Zealand's DJ dropped 0.74 per cent; China's Shanghai declined 0.54 per cent; Hong Kong's Hang Seng surged 1.88 per cent; South Korea's Kospi rose 0.14 per cent.

Oil prices surge amid middle-east violence
Oil prices jumped more than $4 a barrel in early Asian trade on Monday, as dramatic military clashes between Israeli and Hamas forces over the weekend deepened political uncertainty across the Middle East. Brent crude rose $4.18, or 4.94 per cent, to $88.76 a barrel by 0120 GMT, while US West Texas Intermediate crude was at $87.02 a barrel, up $4.23, or 5.11per cent..

Dollar gain on flight to safety
The safe-haven dollar and Japanese yen edged higher on Monday as violence in the Middle East spooked markets, while a blowout US jobs report gave the greenback a further leg up. The dollar index was last 0.11 per cent higher at 106.21. The Japanese currency last bought 149.19 per dollar. Against the dollar, the euro fell 0.2 per cent to $1.0565, while sterling slipped 0.1 per cent to $1.2218.

Wall Street stocks settle higher
A blowout US jobs report on Friday sparked a delayed rally on Wall Street as the data revealed a strong economy with moderating inflation that helped set aside fears of higher interest rates that caused bond yields to soar. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 288.01 points, or 0.87 per cent, to 33,407.58, the S&P 500 gained 50.31 points, or 1.18 per cent, to 4,308.5 and the Nasdaq Composite added 211.51 points, or 1.6 per cent, to 13,431.34.

Stocks in F&O ban list
Four stocks - Indiabulls Housing Finance, Delta Corp, Punjab National Bank and Manappuram Finance - have been put under the F&O segment ban by the National Stock Exchange (NSE) for Monday, October 7. Companies where derivative contracts cross 95 per cent of the market-wide position limit are put under bad in the F&O segment.

FPIs sell shares worth Rs 1,864 crore
Provisional data available with NSE suggest that FPIs were net sellers of domestic stocks to the tune of Rs 90.29 crore on Friday. On the other hand, domestic institutional investors (DIIs) turned net buyers of Indian equities to the tune of Rs 783.25 crore. Overseas investors pulled out a total of Rs 7,998 crore from Indian equities in the first of week of October 2023.

Rupee slips 2 paise against dollar
The rupee declined 2 paise to settle at 83.27 against the US dollar on Friday after the Reserve Bank kept the repo rate unchanged in its fourth consecutive monetary policy review. Unabated foreign fund outflows and elevated levels of the greenback pressured the local unit, according to forex traders.


Note: With inputs from PTI, Reuters and other agencies

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