Stock Market LIVE Updates: GIFT Nifty indicates a weak start; US, Asian markets fall

Speciality chemicals company Kronox Lab Sciences has received Sebi’s go ahead to raise funds through an initial public offering (IPO), an update with the capital markets regulator showed on Thursday.

The proposed offer comprises an offer-for-sale (OFS) of 96 lakh equity shares by promoters — Jogindersingh Jaswal, Ketan Ramani and Pritesh Ramani.

The offer represents up to 26 percent of the paid-up equity share capital of Kronox Lab Sciences, according to the draft red herring prospectus (DRHP). Read More

Japanese inflation slowed to 2.6 percent in March, largely in line with market expectations, data showed Friday.

The year-on-year rise in prices excluding volatile fresh food — against a market consensus of 2.7 percent — followed a 2.8 percent February increase, in part thanks to lower gas bills.

The crude prices were on an increasing trend since the start of calendar year 2024. In-spite of the decline in crude price in the last one week, we expect an upward bias in crude prices in the near term. But in case situation worsens between Israel and Iran, it may lead to spike in crude prices.

However, India still has a decent share of supply of Russian crude which comprises of 30% of India’s total imports by end FY24, and it should help to keep India’s import bills for crude oil under check.

Extreme volatility swings were seen on the weekly expiry day with the morning trade dominated by bulls followed by a steep decline in the mid-session. Follow-up selling dragged the Index further lower to trade below the psychological support of 22,000. With a loss of 152.05 points, Nifty50 ended the day at 21,995.85. Except for Media, all the other sectors ended the day in red with FMCG and Pharma being the major laggards. Mid and Smallcaps also witnessed a round of correction but managed to outperform Nifty50.

With a bearish engulfing candlestick pattern, the Index has broken its 50DMA and long trendline support but currently, it is placed at the lower end of the rising channel. The activity of the upcoming day will decide the continuation or reversal of the trend.

The resurgent dollar headed towards a second straight week of gains on Friday as a hotter-than-expected U.S. economy has pushed back investors’ and policymakers’ expectations of the trajectory of Federal Reserve rate cuts this year.

The greenback’s 0.17% gain for the week was somewhat capped by a slight stall in its rally since Thursday following a rare trilateral warning from finance chiefs in the United States, Japan and South Korea over the latter two’s sliding currencies, raising the risk of a potential joint intervention.

The yen was last little changed at 154.61 per dollar, languishing near a 34-year low and not far from the 155 level which traders see as a new line in the sand that would prompt an intervention from Tokyo.

The Japanese currency was eyeing a weekly loss of more than 0.8% and was down 2% for the month thus far, ahead of the Bank of Japan’s (BOJ) monetary policy meeting next week.

US equity futures fell in early Asian trading as risk sentiment turned, weighing on the region’s equities. Oil prices resumed a selloff and investors retreated to the dollar. The action appeared to be linked to unverified media reports of explosions in Iran, Syria and Iraq. Oil prices rose suddenly early Friday with Brent and West Texas Intermediate climbing more than 2%.

The United States on Thursday announced new sanctions on Iran targeting its unmanned aerial vehicle production after its attack on Israel, and U.S. President Joe Biden said G7 leaders were committed to acting together to increase economic pressure on Tehran.

Britain announced that it was also introducing sanctions on Iran in co-ordination with Washington.

Biden said the United States and its allies had helped Israel beat back the April 13 missile and drone strike and were now holding Iran accountable with the new sanctions and export controls.

The NSE has added Exide Industries to the F&O ban list for April 19, while retaining Balrampur Chini Mills, Bandhan Bank, GNFC, Hindustan Copper, Vodafone Idea, Metropolis Healthcare, National Aluminium Company, Piramal Enterprises, SAIL, and Zee Entertainment Enterprises to the said list.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) net sold shares worth Rs 4,260.33 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) bought Rs 2,285.52 crore worth of stocks on April 18, provisional data from the NSE showed.