Trends on SGX Nifty indicate a gap-down opening for the indices. The Nifty futres were tradign at 15,552 on the Singaporean Exchange.
US stocks ended sharply lower on Friday, with the Dow and S&P 500 posting their worst weekly performance in months, after comments from Federal Reserve official James Bullard that the US central bank might raise interest rates sooner than previously expected spooked investors.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 533.37 points or 1.58 percent to 33,290.08. The S&P 500 lost 55.41 points or 1.31 percent to 4,166.45 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 130.97 points, or 0.92 percent to 14,030.38.
Asian markets down
Asian stocks dropped on Monday as investors mulled the implications of a surprise hawkish shift last week by the US Federal Reserve, while the Treasury yield curve flattened further with 30-year yields dropping below 2 percent.
Japan's Nikkei-led declines with a 3.3 percent drop and dipped below 28,000 for the first time in a month, while MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan fell 1 percent in early trading.
Investors are still recalibrating their moves after the Federal Reserve''s signal last week that it may raise current ultra-low rates sooner than had been expected. That gave the Dow Jones Industrial Average its worst weekly loss since last October.
Part of the Fed's mission is to keep prices under control. The fear is that burgeoning inflation may prompt central banks to dial back the lavish support that has lifted markets to new highs after they plunged at the onset of the coronavirus pandemic last year.
Until its latest policy meeting, last week, the Fed had indicated it viewed recent price hikes as transient and would let the recovering economy run hot. Now it's forecasting raising interest rates twice in 2023.
“The shift to an earlier timeline for a rate hike, accompanied with an upward revision in core inflation forecast to 3%, seems to suggest that the Fed may still be concerned about inflationary pressures to some extent as opposed to its previous stance of letting inflation run wild," Yeap Jun Rong of IG said in a commentary.
South Korea reported its exports rose nearly 30% in the first 20 days of June in the latest indication that the region''s recovery is steaming ahead despite lingering outbreaks of infections in many places.
The Nikkei gave up 983 points to 27,980.87 and the Kospi in Seoul lost 1.3 percent to 3,227.92. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index also lost 1.3 percent, to 28,427.13. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 declined 1.7 percent to 7,243.50 and the Shanghai Composite index declined 0.3percent, to 3,514.61.
On Friday, the S&P 500 fell 1.3 percent to 4,166.45 in a broad retreat, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 1.6 percent, to 33,290.08. The Nasdaq composite fell 0.9 percent to 14,030.38.
The Fed also has begun talks about slowing its $120 billion of monthly bond purchases, which are helping to keep mortgages and other longer-term borrowing cheap. But the Fed's chair has said such a tapering is still likely a ways away.
Markets were spooked after St Louis Federal Reserve President James Bullard said Friday on CNBC that his personal prediction was that the first rate increase may come as soon as next year.
It's an acknowledgment that a rebounding economy with near-record prices for homes and stocks may not need super low rates much longer. A recent burst of inflation may also be upping the pressure. But any pullback in Fed support would be a big change for markets, which have been feasting on ultra-low rates for more than a year.
The Dow industrials lost 3.5 percent last week. The Nasdaq composite, which has more high-growth tech stocks, dipped a much more modest 0.3 percent.
Still, the major US stock indexes remain relatively close to their record highs, as the economy continues to leap out of the recession caused by the pandemic. The S&P 500 is only about 2 percent below its all-time high set on Monday, and the Dow is within 5 percent of its record set last month.
A measure of nervousness in the stock market, known as the VIX, rose Friday but is only back to where it was about a month ago.
The 10-year Treasury yield eased to 1.40 percent on Monday from 1.43 percent late Friday.
MF schemes
Markets regulator SEBI on Friday put in place fresh guidances for participation of mutual fund schemes in interest rate swap, a derivative product. Mutual funds can enter into plain vanilla Interest Rate Swap (IRS) for hedging purposes. The value of the notional principal in such cases must not exceed the value of respective existing assets being hedged by the scheme.
Quarterly results today
Oil India, Bharat Dynamics, Info Edge, Jaiprakash Associates, Aban Offshore, Deccan Polypacks, GPT Infraprojects, HBL Power Systems, Hindusthan National Glass, MM Forgings, Pokarna, Rico Auto Industries, Sumeet Industries, Talbros Engineering, TCNS Clothing and VST Tillers Tractors will release their quarterly results today.
Four stocks-Adani Ports, BHEL, Punjab National Bank, and Sun TV Network--are under the F&O ban for June 21. Securities in the ban period under the F&O segment include companies in which the sercurity has crossed 95 percent of the market-wide position limit.
Fuel prices unchanged
The price of petrol continues to remain at Sunday's level of Rs 97.22 a litre and diesel Rs 87.97 per litre in Delhi.
In Mumbai, the price of petrol was held unchanged at an all-time high of Rs 103.36 per litre. Diesel price also continues to be at Rs 95.44 a litre, the highest among metros. In Chennai, petrol is priced at Rs 98.40 per litre while the price of diesel is Rs 92.58 per litre. The price of petrol in Kolkata is Rs 97.12 per litre while diesel is sold at Rs 90.82 per litre.
