Market Today
The benchmark Sensex and Nifty indices are likely to open higher on February 15 as trends in the GIFT Nifty indicate a positive start for the broader index with a gain of 80 points.
The market made a smart recovery on February 14 to close higher, led by gains in SBI and other PSU banks in a highly volatile session.
The Sensex recovered 1, 023 points from the day’s low to close 277.98 points, or 0.39 percent, higher at 71,833.17. The Nifty slumped to 21,530.20 but rebounded to end the day 97 points, or 0.44 percent, higher at 21,840.
The Nifty Bank index, too, gained over a 1,000 points from the day’s low to end 0.9 percent higher at 45,908.30.
The pivot point calculator indicates that the Nifty is likely to take immediate support at 21,617, followed by 21,536 and 21,406 levels, while on the higher side, it may see immediate resistance at 21,871 followed by 21,958 and 22,088 levels.
Stay tuned to Moneycontrol to find out what happens in the currency and equity markets today. We have collated a list of important headlines across news platforms, which could impact Indian as well as international markets.
GIFT Nifty
Trends in the GIFT Nifty indicate a positive start for the broader index in India, with a gain of 80 points or 0.37 percent. The Nifty futures were trading around the 21,993 level.
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US Markets
Wall Street ended sharply higher on Wednesday as ride-hailing platforms Lyft and Uber rallied, while Nvidia displaced Alphabet as the US stock market’s third most valuable company.
Nvidia overtook Alphabet’s, market capitalization ahead of the dominant AI chipmaker’s quarterly results next week, now with a with a stock market value of $1.825 trillion after its shares rose 2.5 percent.
Uber surged almost 15 percent to a record high, boosted by a $7 billion share buyback plan.
The S&P 500 climbed 0.96 percent to end the session at 5,000.62 points. The Nasdaq gained 1.30 percent to 15,859.15 points, while Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.40 percent to 38,424.27 points.
Asian Markets
Asian markets rebounded after mostly falling on Wednesday after hotter-than-expected US inflation data stoked concerns the Federal Reserve might keep interest rates higher for longer.
US producer prices revised lower in December
US producer prices fell more than initially thought in December, revised government data showed on Wednesday.
The producer price index for final demand dropped 0.2 percent in December instead of dipping 0.1 percent as previously reported, annual revisions of the PPI data published by the Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) showed.
Data for October and November were unrevised to show PPI declining 0.4 percent and slipping 0.1 percent, respectively.
Hindustan Unilever in talks with Andhra Pradesh government to collaborate on palm oil production
Hindustan Unilever is in talks with Andhra Pradesh government to collaborate on palm oil production in the state. HUL sought to partner with more than 15,000 farmers in Andhra Pradesh to create at least 30,000 hectares of oil palm plantations. The proposed plan will lead to investments of over Rs 300 crore during the project development period. The proposed palm oil mill is expected to create over 1,000 direct and indirect jobs in the state.
Dollar
The dollar slid from a fresh three-month high against a major currency basket on Wednesday, as investors consolidated gains following the previous session’s hotter-than-expected U.S. inflation report.
The inflation data for January pushed back bets on a first Federal Reserve rate cut to the middle of the year.
The greenback also weakened against the yen after Japan’s top currency officials warned against what they described as rapid and speculative yen moves.
The dollar eased 0.2 percent to 150.52 yen , not too far from a three-month peak hit against the Japanese currency on Tuesday. The U.S. unit has added about 10 yen in price since the start of this year.
Gold Prices
Gold prices extended declines on Wednesday, languishing below the key $2,000-per-ounce mark, pressured by a stronger-than-expected U.S. inflation report that caused investors to pull back on bets of rate cuts by the Federal Reserve.
Spot gold fell 0.1 percent to $1,991.09 per ounce, its lowest since December 13. Bullion fell about 1.4 percent on Tuesday, its biggest daily loss since December 4. US gold futures slipped 0.1 percent to $2,004.40/oz.
Crude
Oil futures sank by $1 a barrel on Wednesday as surging US crude inventories pushed down prices and a possible security threat to the U.S. that might dampen oil demand in the world’s largest economy.
Brent crude futures settled at $81.60 a barrel, shedding, $1.17, or 1.4 percent. US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures settled at $76.64 a barrel, losing $1.23, or a 1.6 percent.
FII and DII data
Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) net sold shares worth Rs 3,929.60 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) purchased Rs 2,897.98 crore worth of stocks on February 14, provisional data from the NSE showed.
Stocks under F&O ban on NSE
The NSE has added Hindustan Copper to the F&O ban list for February 15, while retaining Aditya Birla Fashion & Retail, Ashok Leyland, Aurobindo Pharma, Balrampur Chini Mills, Bandhan Bank, Biocon, Delta Corp, India Cements, Indus Towers, National Aluminium Company, Punjab National Bank, SAIL and Zee Entertainment Enterprises to the said list.
With inputs from Reuters and other agencies
