Stock Market LIVE Updates, Friday, September 27, 2024: Indian equity benchmark indices were poised for a higher open on Friday, tracking overnight gains in the US and a positive trend in Asian markets, as indicated by GIFT Nifty futures.
At 7:45 AM, GIFT Nifty futures were trading at 26,343, around 30 points ahead of the last close of Nifty futures.
Meanwhile, Indian benchmark BSE Sensex rallied 666 points to close at a fresh high on Thursday fuelled by a rally in auto and banking stocks.
The BSE Sensex jumped 0.78 per cent to settle at 85,836.12 on the monthly derivatives expiry day. The Nifty 50 index closed at 26,216, up 212 points or 0.8 per cent.
The total market capitalisation of BSE listed stocks rose by Rs 1.9 trillion, to end the session at Rs 477 trillion. The Nifty finished with gains on all sessions, barring six, this month.
The latest gains were underpinned by a rally in auto majors after reports suggested Karnataka would offer incentives to clean mobility, including a steep tax cut for hybrid cars.
Most of Sensex’s gains were contributed by Mahindra & Mahindra, which rose 2.9 per cent, Maruti, which gained 4.8 per cent, and Tata Motors that revved by 3.08 per cent.
That apart, most markets in the Asia-Pacific region advanced, led by gains in Chinese stocks. In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index was up 2.43 per cent, while the Shanghai Composite was up 1.3 per cent.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 0.33 per cent, while the broader Topix index saw a slight decline of 0.23 per cent.
In South Korea, the Kospi slipped 0.07 per cent, while the small-cap Kosdaq fell 0.15 per cent. Conversely, Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 was up 0.06 per cent.
That apart, global stock indexes reached record highs on Thursday after chipmaker Micron Technology’s upbeat forecast, while oil dropped on a media report that Saudi Arabia plans to dump its unofficial crude price target of $100 a barrel.
Silver rose to its highest level in nearly 12 years, with interest rate cuts by major central banks lifting investment interest in precious metals.
The S&P 500 registered an all-time closing high, as did the pan-European STOXX 600 index. MSCI’s global stock index hit an intraday record.
Micron’s forecast late on Wednesday bolstered optimism about demand for chips used for artificial intelligence computing.
US Treasury yields edged higher after strong data, including an unexpected drop in weekly US jobless claims, led traders to cut bets that the Federal Reserve will make another 50-basis point cut at its November meeting.
Other US reports showed corporate profits increased at a more robust pace than initially thought in the second quarter, while gross domestic product grew at an unrevised 3 per cent.
Investors anxiously await Friday’s release of the core personal consumption expenditures (PCE) price index, the Fed’s preferred measure of inflation.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 260.36 points, or 0.62 per cent, to 42,175.11, the S&P 500 increased 23.11 points, or 0.40 per cent, to 5,745.37 and the Nasdaq Composite was 108.09 points, or 0.60 per cent, higher at 18,190.29.
European shares followed China’s market higher. The pan-European STOXX 600 index closed 1.3 per cent higher at 525.61 points, an all-time closing high.
MSCI’s gauge of stocks across the globe rose 7.08 points, or 0.84 per cent, to 850.69 and hit a record during trading.
An official readout from a meeting of China’s politburo said Beijing would deploy “necessary fiscal spending” to meet this year’s economic growth target of roughly 5 per cent, acknowledging new problems and raising market expectations for fresh stimulus on top of measures announced this week.
Reuters reported separately that China plans to issue special sovereign bonds worth about 2 trillion yuan ($284 billion) this year, primarily to stimulate consumption.
In commodities, spot silver was up 0.6 per cent at $32.03 per ounce as of Thursday afternoon, having hit its highest since December 2012 at $32.71. Spot gold was up 0.5 per cent at $2,670.52 per ounce, having hit a record high of $2,685.42 earlier in the day.
Crude prices in the US fell $2.02 to settle at $67.67 a barrel and Brent dropped $1.86 to settle at $71.60.
In Treasuries, benchmark 10-year yields rose 0.8 basis points to 3.789 per cent and earlier reached 3.821 per cent, the highest since Sept. 4.
Traders are now pricing in a 51 per cent probability that the Fed will cut rates by 50 basis points at the conclusion of its Nov. 6-7 meeting, down from 63 per cent before the most recent data, according to the CME Group’s FedWatch Tool.
The dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of currencies including the yen and the euro, fell 0.42 per cent to 100.52, on track for its sixth drop in seven sessions, after rising as high as 100.95 earlier in the day.
