Indian indices are likely to open on a negative note on Thursday as investors remain cautious ahead of the RBI policy review due at 10 am today. At 8:30 am, the SGX Nifty was also trading 47 points or 0.27 percent lower at 17,509, indicating a negtive start for the Indian markets.
Indian indices extended gains to a second straight day gaining over a percent on Wednesday, lifted by financial, IT and auto shares. The BSE Sensex index rose 657.4 points to settle at 58,466 while the Nifty50 settled at 17,463.8, up 197.1 points from its previous close.
Let's take a look at some key market cues before the market opens today:
US Markets
Wall Street jumped on Wednesday, closing sharply higher as megacap growth stocks powered up thanks to a pause in rising interest rates, and upbeat earnings reports also encouraged investors to buy. S&P 500 gained 1.5 percent, Dow Jones surged 0.9 percent, while Nasdaq rose 2.1 percent in trade.
Asian Markets
Equities in other parts of Asia a mixed bag in morning deals as investors await the release of US consumer inflation data. MSCI's broadest index of Asia Pacific shares outside Japan up 0.2 percent. Japan's Nikkei 225 up 0.1 percent, China's Shanghai Composite, down 0.1 percent, Hong Kong's Hang Seng, down 0.3 percent, and South Korea's KOSPI was down 0.1 percent.
Oil
Oil prices rallied on Wednesday after U.S. crude inventories dropped by nearly 5 million barrels and fuel demand rose to an all-time high, underscoring the market's ongoing tightness.
SGX Nifty
At 8:30 am, the SGX Nifty was also trading 47 points or 0.27 percent lower at 17,509, indicating a negative start for the Indian markets.
Rupee
The rupee declined by 10 paise to close at 74.84 against the US dollar on Wednesday amid persistent foreign fund outflows and elevated crude oil prices. Investors are cautious ahead of the RBI monetary policy to be announced today.
Gold
Prices of the yellow metal were higher on Wednesday as a weaker dollar offered support to the safe-haven metal ahead of U.S. inflation data.
Earnings today
Firms like M&M, Hero Moto, Amara Raja Batteries, Dr Lal Pathlabs, Hindalco, Tata Chemicals, etc. are likely to report their December quarter earnings during the day.
RBI MPC Meet
The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) will announce the last policy review of FY22 later in the day today. The 3-day MPC meet began on Tuesday. Most experts expect a 25 bps rise in reverse repo rate in today's policy announcement.
FII/DII activity
Provisional exchange data shows foreign institutional investors (FIIs) net sold Indian equities worth ₹892.6 crore on Wednesday. However, domestic institutional investors (DIIs) saved the day, making net purchases of ₹1,793.4 crore.