Indian stock market: 7 key things that changed for market overnight – Gift Nifty, Powell’s speech to US private payrolls

Indian stock market: The Indian equity market is expected to open on a positive note Thursday tracking an upmove in global peers amid improved investor sentiment.

Asian markets traded higher, while the US stock market indices ended largely in the green overnight after the speech from US Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell.

Powell said the Federal Reserve officials will likely reduce their benchmark interest rate later this year as they “see it as likely to be appropriate” to start cutting their key rate “at some point this year.”

On Wednesday, the Indian stock market indices ended flat with a negative bias amid weak global cues.

The Sensex fell 27.09 points, or 0.04%, to close at 73,876.82, while the Nifty 50 settled 18.65 points, or 0.08%, lower at 22,434.65.

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“Markets are trading with caution ahead of the RBI policy meeting and key macro data to be released in the US and Europe. We expect the market to consolidate over the next few days until the events unfold,” said Siddhartha Khemka, Head – Retail Research, Motilal Oswal Financial Services Ltd.

Here are key global market cues for Sensex today:

Asian Markets

Asian markets traded higher following overnight gains on Wall Street after Fed Chair Jerome Powell reaffirmed his view of likely rate cuts this year.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 rallied 1.34% to trade near 40,000, while Topix gained 1.05%. South Korea’s Kospi rose 1.22%. Markets in Hong Kong, mainland China and Taiwan are shut for a public holiday.

Read here: Asian Equities Rise as Powell Reaffirms Rate Cuts: Markets Wrap

Gift Nifty Today

Gift Nifty was trading around the 22,594 level, a premium of nearly 52 points from the Nifty futures’ previous close, indicating a positive start for the Indian stock market indices.

Wall Street

The US stock market indices ended mixed on Wednesday amid gains in energy, materials and communication services stocks.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 43.1 points, or 0.11%, to 39,127.14, while the S&P 500 gained 5.68 points, or 0.11%, to 5,211.49. The Nasdaq Composite closed 37.01 points, or 0.23%, higher at 16,277.46.

Among stocks, Ulta Beauty shares plunged 15.3%, while Intel shares declined 8.2%.

Jerome Powell

US Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said that the central bank will likely reduce benchmark interest rates later this year despite recent reports showing that the US economy is still strong and that US inflation picked up.

Read here: Powell: Fed still sees rate cuts this year; election timing won’t affect decision

US Private Payrolls

US private payrolls increased more than expected in March. The private payrolls rose by 184,000 jobs last month, the most since last July, after advancing by an upwardly revised 155,000 in February, the ADP Employment report showed. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast private employment increasing by 148,000 last month compared to the previously reported 140,000 in February.

US Services PMI

US services industry growth slowed further in March as the Institute for Supply Management (ISM) said that its non-manufacturing PMI fell to 51.4 last month from 52.6 in February, registering the second straight monthly decline in the index. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast the index edging up to 52.7 in March.

Oil Prices

Crude oil prices gained as output cuts by major producers raised concerns about lower supply. Brent futures for June rose 0.16% to $89.49 a barrel, while US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) futures for May rose 0.18% to $85.58 a barrel.

(With inputs from Reuters)

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