SGX Nifty indicates a flat start for the Indian indices. Indian markets could open flat to mildly lower in line with largely negative Asian markets today and despite negative Dow Jones index in US markets on Monday, said Deepak Jasani, Head-Retail Research, HDFC Securities.
At 09:03 AM, the Sensex was down 91.84 points or 0.15 percent at 60,303.79. The Nifty was down 31 points or 0.17 percent at 17,972.30.
Mohit Nigam, Head - PMS, Hem Securities, said, "Benchmark Indices are expected to open on negative note as suggested by trends on SGX Nifty. Both European and US markets closed in red. Asian markets are also trading in red. Benchmark indices may face some resistance around 18,150 and 18,200 and can witness a minor corrective fall. Monday's AMFI Data showed domestic mutual fund’s contribution to total Institutional equity portfolio has risen to 17 percent showing increased engrossment of Indian households for Indian equity markets.
"On the technical front, the key resistance levels for Nifty50 are 18,050 followed by 18,100 and on the downside 17,910 followed by 17,830 can act as strong support. Key resistance and support levels for Bank Nifty are 38,520 and 38,050 respectively," Nigam added.
Nifty rose for the second consecutive session on Jan 10 and closed above 18,000. At close, Nifty was up 1.07 percent or 190.6 points at 18,003.3. In the process, Nifty was the best performing index in Asia.
Nifty rose well on January 10. Advance decline ratio was also well into the positive territory suggesting broad market gains. 17,812-17,905 is the support for the Nifty in the near term, while 18,109 could be a resistance.
Results today
Delta Corp, Ganesh Housing Corporation, National Standard and Radhe Developers are to announce December quarter results today.
Asian stocks slip
Asian stocks slipped Tuesday ahead of a key inflation print stateside that’s expected to strengthen the case for tighter monetary policy. The Nikkei index fell 1.3 percent as trading resumed after a holiday on Monday. Australian stocks shed 0.8 percent, Taiwan lost 0.4 percent and Seoul lost 0.3 percent. Hong Kong ticked 0.1 percent higher and China's 300 index nudged up, Reuters said.
US stocks decline
The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index eked out a slight gain in the final minutes of trading on Monday, after bearing the brunt of a broader stock selloff earlier in the day (down 2.7 percent at one point), while the S&P 500 and Dow industrials extended their losing streaks, with worries about Federal Reserve policy reverberating in financial markets.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 0.45 percent, and the S&P 500 lost 0.14 percent. Technology stocks, which have soared in the past two years thanks in part to very low interest rates, led the falls early in the day but rallied later in the session to leave the Nasdaq Composite up just 0.05 percent, said Reuters.
The pan-European STOXX 600 index lost 1.48 percent and MSCI's gauge of stocks across the globe shed 0.26 percent.
Three Wall Street firms — Goldman Sachs Group Inc., JPMorgan Chase & Co., and Deutsche Bank AG — said they see the Fed delivering more than the three rate hikes that policy makers have penciled in for this year.
US traders brace for consumer price report
US traders also braced for a consumer-price report on Wednesday that could show a 7 percent headline year-over-year rise for December, a level which may not let up until the March reading.
The yield on the 10-year US Treasury note rose 1 basis point to 1.78 percent, the highest since January 17, 2020.
Net inflows into equity and equity-linked schemes at record high
Net inflows into equity and equity-linked schemes in India more than doubled over the preceding month to Rs 25,076.7 crore in December. Monthly SIP contributions hit a fresh high of Rs 11,305.34 crore. Around 12.54 lakh SIP accounts opened during the reported month.
Oil prices up
Oil prices rose on Tuesday after two days of losses. Brent crude futures rose 0.3 percent to $81.1 a barrel after dropping 1 percent in the previous session.
Fuel rates unchanged
Petrol and diesel prices remained unchanged in the country on Tuesday. Earlier, the Delhi government had reduced the value-added tax on petrol from 30 percent to 19.40 percent. With this, petrol prices in the national capital were slashed by Rs 8.56 per litre.
Accordingly, diesel and petrol prices in Delhi stood at Rs 86.67 per litre and Rs 95.41 per litre on Tuesday, respectively.
In Mumbai, petrol is retailed at Rs 109.98 per litre, while diesel is being sold at Rs 94.14 per litre. Among the metro cities, fuel rates are still the highest in Mumbai. Fuel prices vary across the states due to value-added tax or VAT.
Diesel and petrol prices also remained static in Kolkata at Rs 89.79 and Rs 104.67. In Chennai too, they remained unchanged at Rs 91.43 and Rs 101.40.
(With inputs from Reuters, agencies)
