First Tick: Here are the top global cues for today’s trade

Market Today

Indian benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty are likely to see a firm start on August 19, tracking GIFT Nifty, which was hovering around 24,992 earlier this morning.

Track the latest updates on GIFT Nifty right here on Moneycontrol.

Benchmark equity indices ended higher for a third consecutive session on August 18, helped by cooling oil prices following Trump-Putin talks, India's sovereign rating upgrades by S&P and expectation of GST rate rationalisation by October.

At close, the Sensex was up 676.09 points or 0.84 percent at 81,273.75, and the Nifty was up 251.20 points or 1.02 percent at 24,882.50. The BSE midcap index gained a percent and the smallcap index added 1.4 percent.

Here is how financial markets across the globe fared overnight:

GIFT Nifty (Gains)

The GIFT Nifty is trading higher at around 24,992, indicating a firm opening for the day.

Asian Equities (Mixed)

Asian indices tracked Wall Street declines overnight ahead of the U.S. Federal Reserve meeting.

US Equities (Flat)

Wall Street's main indexes closed roughly flat on Monday, after struggling for direction while investors awaited a raft of corporate earnings reports from major retailers for more signs about the state of the economy and the Federal Reserve's annual symposium in Jackson Hole.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 34.30 points, or 0.08%, to 44,911.82, the S&P 500 lost 0.65 point, or 0.01%, to 6,449.15 and the Nasdaq Composite gained 6.80 points, or 0.03%, to 21,629.77.

US Bond Yield (Down)

The yield on 10-year Treasuries and 2-year Treasuries were trading with little change in the early Tuesday trade.

Dollar Index (Flat)

The U.S. dollar held steady against its major peers on Tuesday as global markets awaited the outcome of a White House summit with European nations that could determine the next phase of the war in Ukraine.

The dollar index rose 0.31% to 98.15 with geopolitical events taking centre stage, after U.S. President Donald Trump told President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Monday that the United States would help guarantee Ukraine's security in any deal to end the war with Russia.

Asian currencies (Down)

Asian currencies were trading lower against the US dollar with Indonesian Rupiah leading the losers followed by Malaysian Ringgit, South Korean Won, Philippines Peso, Thai Baht.

Crude (Slips)

Oil prices slipped in early Asian trade on Tuesday as market participants contemplated planned three-way talks among Russia, Ukraine and the U.S. to end the war in Ukraine, which could lead to an end to sanctions on Russian crude.

Gold (Flat)

Gold was little changed as traders weighed US-led efforts to end the war in Ukraine, and counted down to the Federal Reserve’s annual Jackson Hole gathering, which may yield hints on possible rate cuts.

Fund Flow Action

After remaining net sellers for the last 4 day's, the Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) turned net buyers on August 18 as they bought equities worth Rs 550 crore, while Domestic institutional investors (DIIs) purchased equities worth Rs 4103 crore on the same day.

Hope you're all set for today's trade. We wish you a profitable day ahead.

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