Stocks showed mixed signs on Wall Street on Wednesday, adding to weekly gains and losses for major indexes as quarterly results from several big technology companies weighed on stocks.
The Indian equity benchmarks are likely to open higher on Thursday as indicated by the Nifty Futures traded on Singapore Exchange. The Nifty Futures on Singapore Exchange, also known as SGX Nifty Futures rose 0.50 per cent to 17,902.50 amid positive global cues.
Most of the Asian markets were trading higher with Japan’s Nikkei up 0.02 per cent, South Korea’s KOSPI up 1.64 per cent, Singapore’s Straits Times rising 0.24 per cent and Taiwan Weighted rising 1.43 per cent.
Asian shares were mostly higher on Wednesday, with positive hopes that the Federal Reserve might ease off plans for interest rate hikes, aiding sentiment, and Britain getting its third prime minister this year.
The Nikkei 225 in Tokyo jumped ahead of the expected release of a stimulus package this week that is expected to exceed 20 trillion yen, AP reported.
US Markets
Stocks showed mixed signs on Wall Street on Wednesday, adding to weekly gains and losses for major indexes as quarterly results from several big technology companies weighed on stocks.
The S&P fell 0.7 per cent after shedding an early gain for investors, while the Nasdaq composite dropped 2 per cent after weak quarterly results from the big tech. The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended barely in the green, thanks to a big jump in Visa.
The US markets on Wednesday largely saw smaller company stocks outpacing the broader market, triggering the Russell 2000 index to rise by 0.5 per cent. Trading was largely choppy, pulling the Nasdaq into the red as technology stocks somewhat lost ground.
At this point, investors are mainly focused on earnings this week, but they are also waiting for several economic updates to gauge how inflation is impacting businesses, people and the Fed’s plans for hiking interest rate further.
Gold and Crude Oil Price Check
Benchmark U.S. crude oil for December delivery rose $2.59 to $87.91 a barrel on Wednesday. Brent crude for December delivery also rose $2.17 to $95.69
Gold for December delivery rose $11.20 to $1,669.20 an ounce. Silver for December delivery rose 14 cents to $19.49 an ounce and December copper rose 15 cents to $3.55 a pound, AP reported.
The dollar fell to 146.26 Japanese yen from 147.97 yen. The euro rose to $1.0080 from 99.59 cents.
Foreign Flows
Foreign Institutional Investors (FII) sold shares worth Rs 247.01 crore on Tuesday while Domestic Institutional Investors (DIIs) bought shares worth Rs 2,085 crore.
Stocks In Focus
Dabur: The company reported its quarterly earnings on Wednesday, while also announcing a 250 per cent dividend for FY23. Alongside this, Dabur also announced that it would acquire a 51 per cent stake in Badshah Masala.
Tata Steel: The company has advanced into a pact with Ford to supply zeremis green steel from their Netherlands-based plant. Since Zeremis carbon lite steel is 100 per cent carbon neutral, it makes Ford the first customer to advance towards the green steel, one that Tata Steel plans to produce with the help of hydrogen route.
LIC: The government on Wednesday has nudged LIC to tweak its product strategy in order to maximise profitability. While it was trading below the issue price, foreign brokers stay bullish on LIC setting a higher target price over the next one year.
Zee Entertainment: Sony India and Zee Entertainment have announced their plans to sell three Hindi channels in order to address anti-competitive concerns that arised after the proposed merger. Their submitted proposal also received conditional approval from Competition Commission of India.