Stock Market LIVE Updates: GIFT Nifty indicates a positive start; US, Asian markets gain

Oil prices fell in early trade on Wednesday as investors digested news that the U.S. Federal Reserve has opted against cutting interest rates in the near future, while ample U.S. crude and fuel stocks further weighed on the market.

Brent crude futures lost 14 cents, or 0.17%, to $82.46 a barrel, and U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures fell 16 cents, or 0.2%, to hit $78.34. Both benchmarks had gained about 0.8% in the previous session.

The Hon’ble National Company Law Tribunal, Chandigarh Bench (Hon’ble NCLT) has approved the merger of GMR Airports (GAL) and GMR Infra Developers (GIDL) into GMR Airports Infrastructure (Formerly GMR Infrastructure) (GIL), in terms of a composite scheme of amalgamation and arrangement amongst the said parties.

Asian markets rose on Thursday after the U.S. Federal Reserve held the Federal Funds rate at 5.25% to 5.5% and shifted its “dot plot” to project only one rate cut this year.

The S&P 500 and Nasdaq posted record closing highs for a third straight day on Wednesday after inflation data came in softer than expected but the indexes ended off the day’s highs as the Federal Reserve projected only one interest rate cut this year.

The Fed’s March projections included three quarter-percentage-point reductions. The U.S. central bank, in a statement at the end of its June 11-12 meeting, also said it left its policy rate unchanged, as expected.

Stocks were choppy following the news and press conference with Fed Chair Jerome Powell, with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq paring gains late and the Dow finishing near flat.

Stocks opened higher after the Labor Department reported that the U.S. Consumer Price Index was unexpectedly unchanged in May due to cheaper gasoline.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 35.21 points, or 0.09%, to 38,712.21. The S&P 500rose 45.71 points, or 0.85%, to 5,421.03 and the Nasdaq Composite advanced 264.89 points, or 1.53%, to 17,608.44.

Nifty 50 ended higher on June 12 after having hit a fresh high of 23,441 during intraday trade. Sensex came within 30 points of its all-time high of 77,079.

At close, the Sensex was up 149 points or 0.2 percent at 76,606 and the Nifty 50 was up 43 points at 23,308. About 2,306 shares advanced, 1,132 shares declined, and 79 shares remained unchanged.

Coal India, Power Grid, Eicher Motors, and SBI Life were amongst the biggest gainers on Nifty 50 while M&M, Britannia, HUL, Tata Consumer Products, and Titan were some of the biggest losers.

Nifty Media and Nifty PSU Bank were the top gainers among sectoral indices as they both gained 2 percent and 1 percent, respectively. Meanwhile, Nifty FMCG, the only loser amongst the sectoral indices, fell 0.4 percent.