Indian stock market: 8 key things that changed for market over weekend – Gift Nifty, Nikkei’s record high to oil prices

Asian markets traded higher with Japan’s Nikkei 225 crossing the 40,000 mark for the first time, while the US stock market indices hitting fresh all-time high ahead of the week that includes US Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell’s congressional testimony and China’s National People’s Congress.

On the global front, investors will watch out for China’s “Two Sessions” meetings that begin today. These are the concurrent annual meetings of China’s legislature, the National People’s Congress, and the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference.

Moreover, several stock market triggers will also be under the radar, including domestic and global macroeconomic data, political developments ahead of General Elections 2024, crude oil prices, foreign capital inflow, and other global cues.

Also Read: Week Ahead: Macro data, FII activity, global cues among key market triggers as Nifty 50 eyes 22,600 this week

The Indian bourses, BSE and National Stock Exchange (NSE), held a special live trading session on Saturday, March 2, to assess the resilience of their disaster recovery systems.

On Saturday, the stock market indices ended with marginal gains after hitting record highs during the day.

The Sensex gained 60.80 points, or 0.08%, to close at 73,806.15, while the Nifty 50 settled 39.65 points, or 0.18%, higher at 22,378.40.

“At the onset of a week laden with economic data releases, investor sentiment appeared cautious. However, indices surged in the final session, propelled by stellar Indian GDP figures and a healthy performance in the Indian manufacturing sector as output and new order picks up. While robust economic data boosted confidence in the Indian economy, concerns lingered regarding the RBI’s policy decisions amidst high liquidity and inflation worries,” said Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Financial Services.

Also Read: Buy or sell: Vaishali Parekh recommends three stocks to buy today — March 4

Here are key global market cues for Sensex today:

Asian Markets

Asian markets traded higher tracking a rally on Wall Street. Japan’s Nikkei 225 gained over 0.8% to a new record high above the 40,000 mark, while the broader Topix was flat. South Korea’s Kospi surged 1.43%, and the Kosdaq gained 1.4%. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index futures indicated a flat opening.

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan edged up 0.2%, after snapping a five-week winning streak with a slight drop last week.

Also Read: China to reveal 2024 GDP growth target at National People’s Congress, likely to avoid bold reforms

Gift Nifty Today

Gift Nifty was trading around the 22,517 level, a premium of nearly 15 points from Nifty futures’ previous close, indicating a mildly positive start for the Indian stock market indices.

Wall Street

US stock market indices rallied on Friday, with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq closing at record highs, led by gains in technology stocks and declining Treasury yields.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 90.99 points, or 0.23%, to 39,087.38, while the S&P 500 gained 40.81 points, or 0.80%, to 5,137.08. The Nasdaq Composite ended 183.02 points, or 1.14%, higher at 16,274.94.

For the week, the S&P 500 gained 0.95%, the Nasdaq rose 1.74%, and the Dow fell 0.11%.

Among stocks, Nvidia shares jumped 4% to close above $2 trillion in market value for the first time, while Advanced Micro Devices shares gained 5.25% to a record-high close of $202.64.

Dell Technologies shares spiked 31.62%. New York Community Bancorp shares tanked 25.89% and Boeing shares fell 1.83%.

Also Read: Wall Street week ahead: Fed chair Jerome Powell’s congressional testimony, jobs report in focus

US Fed Officials 

Fed Governor Chris Waller said upcoming decisions about the ultimate size of its balance sheet have no bearing on its inflation fight. Fellow Fed Governor Adriana Kugler said she is

cautiously optimistic progress will continue on disinflation without a significant weakening of the labor market, and that the central bank has avoided a wage-price spiral, Reuters reported.

Richmond Fed President Thomas Barkin said it is too soon to predict when the Fed will be able to begin cutting rates.

US Manufacturing PMI

US manufacturing slumped further in February. The Institute for Supply Management (ISM) said that its manufacturing PMI fell to a seven-month low of 47.8 last month from 49.1 in January, Reuters reported. It was the 16th straight month that the PMI remained below 50, indicating a manufacturing contraction.

US Treasury Yields

US treasury yields fell sharply on Friday. The 2-year note yield fell 11.1 basis points (bps) to 4.5354%, its biggest daily decline since the end of January. The yield on benchmark US 10-year notes fell 6.6 bps to 4.186%, while the 30-year bond yield fell 4.7 bps to 4.3285% from 4.375% late on Thursday.

Dollar

The US dollar fell on weaker-than-expected US economic data. The dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of major currencies, fell 0.2% at 103.91.

Oil prices

Crude oil prices extended gains to trade near the highest level this year after OPEC extended its production cuts. Brent futures traded 0.30% higher at $83.80 a barrel after rising 2% on Friday, while the US benchmark West Texas Intermediate gained 0.25% to $80.17, having breached the $80 level for the first time since November.

(With inputs from Reuters)

Disclaimer: The views and recommendations made above are those of individual analysts or broking companies, and not of Mint. We advise investors to check with certified experts before taking any investment decisions.

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Published: 04 Mar 2024, 06:51 AM IST