Opening Bell: Markets Trade In Red Amid Negative Global Cues; Sensex At 64,756.11, Nifty Below 19,400

The markets opened in red on Friday with Sensex at 64,756.11, down by 76.09 points, and Nifty at 19,344.85 with a fall of 50.45 points

Nifty Bank in the morning session was at 43,519.20, down by 164.40 or 0.38 percent.

From Sensex pack, Bajaj Finance, Bharti Airtel, IndusInd Bank, PowerGrid, and Hindustan Unilever were the major gainers in the morning session, whereas JSW Steel, HDFC Bank, Axis Bank, ICICI Bank, and Tech Mahindra were among the laggards.

ONGC, M&M, Coal India, Hindalco Industries, LIC, Eicher Motors, Biocon, Edelweiss Financial Services, Glenmark Pharmaceuticals, Hindustan Copper, Ipca Laboratories, are to announce earnings for the second quarter of this financial year today.

Markets on Thursday

The market on Thursday ended on a negative note. The 30-share BSE Sensex was down by 140.41 points or 0.22 percent, to close at 64,835.20. Meanwhile, the NSE Nifty, was down by 42.30  points or 0.22 percent to end the day at 19,401.20. Nifty Bank gained 27.15 points or 0.06 percent at 43,685.80.

Global markets

On Thursday, the US stock market ended on a negative note, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average experiencing a drop of 220.33 points, equivalent to a 0.65% decrease, closing at 33,891.94. The S&P 500 exhibited a loss of 35.43 points, marking a 0.81% decline, as it settled at 4,347.35. Additionally, the Nasdaq Composite recorded a decrease of 128.97 points, reflecting a 0.94% downturn, with its closing value at 13,521.45.

Asian markets traded lower on Friday with Japan's Nikkei 225 down by 267.10 points to reach 32,379.36, Hong Kong's Hang Seng falling by 275.34 points, reaching 17,235.95, and South Korea's KOSPI shedding 22.08 points to reach 2,405 and Gifty Nifty at 19,381, down by 94 points.

Oil prices

Oil prices remained largely unchanged on Friday, following a previous session increase. However, they are poised for a third consecutive weekly decline as worries about supply disruptions from the Israel-Hamas conflict have diminished. Brent crude futures for January held steady at $80.01 a barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures for December were down 7 cents at $75.67. Brent futures have fallen 5.7% this week, and WTI has seen a 5.9% decline since last week, marking the longest weekly losing streak for both contracts since mid-April to early May.

Rupee

The Indian rupee opened flat at 83.28 per dollar on Friday morning against Thursday's close of 83.28.