The market is expected to open in the green as trends in the SGX Nifty indicate a gap-up opening for the broader index in India with a gain of 109 points.
The BSE Sensex corrected 502 points to 58,909, while the Nifty50 fell 129 points to close at 17,322 and formed bearish candlestick pattern on the daily charts, with making lower high lower low formation, while taking support at 17,300.
As per the pivot charts, the Nifty has support at 17,304, followed by 17,272 and 17,218. If the index moves up, the key resistance levels to watch out for are 17,411, followed by 17,444 and 17,498.
Stay tuned to Moneycontrol to find out what happens in the currency and equity markets today. We have collated a list of important headlines across news platforms which could impact Indian as well as international markets:
US Markets
US stocks rallied on Thursday, as Treasury yields pulled back from earlier highs following comments from Atlanta Federal Reserve President Raphael Bostic about his favored path of interest rate hikes for the central bank.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 341.73 points, or 1.05 percent, to 33,003.57, the S&P 500 gained 29.96 points, or 0.76 percent, to 3,981.35 and the Nasdaq Composite added 83.50 points, or 0.73 percent, to 11,462.98.
Asian Markets
Asia-Pacific markets rose on Friday, following Wall Street’s gains overnight after Atlanta Fed president Raphael Bostic said he’s “firmly” in favour of sticking with quarter-point hikes.
The Nikkei 225 rose 0.73 percent and the Topix was up 0.52 percent as Japan’s unemployment rate reached 2.4 percent in January, the lowest level since February 2020. In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.30 percent. In South Korea, the Kospi gained 0.22 percent.
SGX Nifty
Trends in the SGX Nifty indicate a gap-up opening for the broader index in India with a gain of 109 points. The Nifty futures were trading around 17,464 levels on the Singaporean exchange.
Oil rises on easing US rate hike fears, China demand hopes
Oil prices rose on Thursday, boosted by signs of a strong economic rebound in top crude importer China and easing worries of aggressive US rate hikes.
Brent crude futures settled at $84.75 a barrel, gaining 44 cents, or 0.5 percent. US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures settled at $78.16 a barrel, rising 47 cents, or 0.6 percent.
Adani group firms sell shares worth Rs 15,446 crore to GQG Partners via block deals
Adani group companies have cumulatively sold shares worth Rs 15,446 crore in secondary equity transaction to US PE firm GQG Partners through block trades on March 2. The block trade transactions happened in four of the company's subsidiaries--Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone Limited, Adani Green Energy Limited, Adani Transmission Limited and Adani Enterprises Limited.
"This transaction marks the continued confidence of global investors in the governance, management practices and the growth of Adani Portfolio of companies,” Jugeshinder (Robbie) Singh, Group CFO of Adani Group.
On March 2, the Supreme Court asked Sebi to probe within two months allegations of stock price manipulation by the Adani Group and any lapses in regulatory disclosures, and also set up a panel to look into protection of Indian investors after a damning report by the US short seller.
US labour market remains tight; Q4 labour costs revised higher
The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment fell again last week, pointing to sustained labour market strength and adding to financial market fears that the Federal Reserve could keep hiking interest rates for longer.
Initial claims for state unemployment benefits dropped 2,000 to a seasonally adjusted 190,000 for the week ended Feb. 25, the Labor Department said. It was the seventh straight week that claims remained below 200,000. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast 195,000 claims for the latest week.
Economists also believed that seasonal adjustment factors, the model the government uses to strip out seasonal fluctuations from the data, were keeping claims lower. The seasonal adjustment factors for 2023 will be updated at the end of March.
FII and DII data
Foreign institutional investors (FII) bought shares worth Rs 12,770.81 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DII) purchased shares worth Rs 2,128.80 crore on March 2, the National Stock Exchange’s provisional data showed.
Japan's Feb service-sector activity grows at fastest rate in 8 months - PMI
Japan's services sector activity grew at the fastest pace in eight months in February, a private sector survey showed on Friday, as the economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic receded globally.
The final au Jibun Bank Japan Services purchasing managers' index (PMI) rose in February to a seasonally adjusted 54.0 from January's 52.3. The final figure was higher than the flash reading of 53.6 and well above the 50-mark that separates expansion from contraction for a sixth straight month.
Japan's jobless rate falls to 2.4% in January
Japan's jobless rate fell to 2.4 percent in January, while the availability of jobs fell for the first time in nearly 2-1/2 years, government data showed on Friday. The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was lower than economists' median forecast of 2.5 percent in a Reuters poll. The jobs-to-applicants ratio fell to 1.35 from December's 1.36, marking the first decline since August 2020, labour ministry data showed.
Gold eases as US jobs data lifts dollar, yields
Gold prices edged lower on Thursday as the US weekly jobs data hinted at a tight labour market that could keep the Federal Reserve on its rate-hiking cycle, underpinning the dollar and Treasury yields.
Spot gold was down 0.1 percent at $1,834.80 per ounce by 14:36 GMT, after rising in previous three sessions. US gold futures fell 0.3 percent to $1,840.40.
With inputs from Reuters and other agencies
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