The stock markets opened on a positive note on September 16 (Wednesday)-a day of weekly F&O expiry. The benchmark Sensex was up 159.99 points or 0.27 percent at 58,883.19. The Nifty50 was up 45.35 points or 0.26 percent at 17,564.80.
IndusInd Bank, PowerGrid, HCL Tech, Bharti Airtel, Tata Steel and State Bank of India were the major gainers while HDFC Bank, Hindustan Unilever, Nestle and Tech Mahindra were the major losers at the opening bell.
Stocks to watch out for
Stock specific actions can be witnessed in stocks such as Infosys (the company has collaborated with SAP to provide Business Process Transformation), Fineotex Chemical (the company has entered into a strategic collaboration with Eurodye-CTC, Belgium, to commercialise specialty chemicals for the Indian market). Crucial support for Nifty 50 is 17,400 while Nifty may face some resistance at 17,700, said Nigam.
The S&P 500 and Dow Jones indexes rose on Wednesday on mildly positive factory data and higher oil prices, although concerns over a slowing economic recovery and higher corporate taxes kept sentiment subdued.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 92.87 points, or 0.27 percent, to 34,670.44, the S&P 500 gained 11.10 points, or 0.25 percent, to 4,454.15 and the Nasdaq Composite lost 9.66 points, or 0.06 percent, to 15,028.10.
Asian shares trade mixed
Shares in Asia-Pacific were mixed in Thursday morning trade, with casino shares in Hong Kong mostly seeing another day of losses. The Nikkei 225 in Japan slipped about 0.1 percent while the Topix index fell 0.15 percent. South Korea’s Kospi edged 0.47 percent lower.
Fuel prices remain unchanged
Fuel prices unchanged for the eleventh consecutive day on Thursday. The price of petrol and diesel remains unchanged at Rs 101.19 and Rs 88.62 per litre in Delhi, as per Indian Oil Corporation, the country's largest fuel retailer.
In Mumbai, the petrol price was stable at Rs 107.26 per litre on Thursday while diesel rates also remained unchanged at Rs 96.19 a litre.
In Chennai, petrol is priced at Rs 98.96 a litre and in Kolkata Rs 101.62 a litre. Diesel is also priced at Rs 93.26 and Rs 91.71 per litre in both cities respectively.
Oil prices down
Oil was down Thursday morning in Asia, but retained most of Wednesday’s gains, after a larger-than-expected draw in US crude oil stocks in the U.S. gave the black liquid a boost.
Brent oil futures inched down 0.01percent to $75.45 by 10:37 PM ET (2:37 AM GMT) and WTI futures inched down 0.04 percent to $72.58. Both Brent and WTI futures remained above the $70 mark.
Crude oil and fuel stockpiles dropped sharply during the past week as refiners in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico and oil facilities offshore have yet to complete their recovery from Hurricane Ida’s impact, the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) said on Wednesday.
The EIA data showed a draw of 6.422 million barrels, much bigger than the 3.544-million-barrel draw in forecasts prepared by Investing.com and the previous week’s 1.529-million-barrel draw.
US production surpasses pre-pandemic levels
Production by US factories, mines and utilities in August surpassed the level seen before the pandemic caused an unprecedented collapse, according to Federal Reserve data released Wednesday.
Industrial production increased 0.4 percent in August, but it could have been 0.3 percentage points higher had it not been for the effects of Hurricane Ida, which caused flooding and destruction in parts of Louisiana and the northeastern United States.
Dollar slumps
The dollar slumped against major currencies on Wednesday after softer-than-expected U.S. inflation data released on Tuesday eased short-term expectations about tapering of asset purchases from the Federal Reserve.
The dollar index, a measure of the greenback's value against six major currencies, has traded between 92.3 and 92.9 over the past week as several Fed officials suggested the U.S. central bank could reduce buying debt securities by the end of the year, even after a weaker-than-expected payrolls report earlier this month.
Gold prices tenuous
Gold’s stay above $1,800 is proving tenuous, at best.
Gold’s bread and butter has been globally easy monetary policies and that is about to moderate, but over the next couple of quarters it could transition to an inflation hedge, but the timing of that will be tricky.
Most-active December gold on New York’s Comex settled down $12.30, or 0.7 percent, at $1,794.80 after moving between $1,808.45 and $1,792.35.
Tatas refute rumours on leadership changes
India's Tata Sons Chairman N Chandrasekaran said on Wednesday that no leadership changes were on the anvil, refuting media reports. The holding firm of the Indian conglomerate was considering adding a chief executive role amid a revamp of its leadership structure, a Bloomberg report had said on Tuesday.
Japan exports in double digits in August
Japan’s exports extended double digit gains in August, led by strong shipments of chip manufacturing equipment, though the pace of growth weakened mainly due to the deepening impact of a COVID-19 resurgence across Asia.
Exports rose 26.2 percent in August compared with the same month a year earlier, the Ministry of Finance said on Thursday, marking the sixth straight month of double-digit growth as strong demand for chip-making equipment offset slowing US and EU-bound shipments of cars.
Cabinet approves PLI scheme for auto
The Union Cabinet of India on September 15 cleared Rs 25,938 crore performance-linked incentive (PLI) scheme for the automobile sector to boost the production of electric and hydrogen fuel cell vehicles.
Government plans to sell 10 percent of Hindustan Copper’s equity through an Offer for Sale. The initial plan is for the sale of 4.83 crore shares or 5 percent of the total equity with a green shoe option to sell another 4.83 crore shares or 5 percent of the total equity. The floor price of Rs 116 per share is at a 6.82 percent discount to Wednesday's closing price.
9 stocks under F&O ban
Nine stocks - Canara Bank, Escorts, Exide Industries, Vodafone Idea, IRCTC, LIC Housing Finance, NALCO, Sun TV Network and Zee Entertainment Network - are under the F&O ban today.
