SGX Nifty gains 70 points; here's what changed for market while you were sleeping

Following a sharp rise in US stocks overnight and upbeat sentiments in Asian peers on positive comments from US Fed chair Jerome Powell, Indian equity indices too seemed set to extend their winning streak to eighth session in a row on Thursday. That said, profit booking at higher levels after a solid run-up and a slowdown in Q2 GDP print could cap the upside for stocks.

Support base for Nifty50 has shifted higher as options data now suggests 18600-19000 as the range in the short term.

Here's breaking down the pre-market actions:

STATE OF THE MARKETS

SGX Nifty signals a positive start
Nifty futures on the Singapore Exchange traded 68 points or 0.36% higher at 18,984.50 around 7 am, signalling a positive start for Dalal Street.

• Tech View: Nifty 50 charts indicate the continuation of the upside momentum in the market. The index looks set to test 19,000 level.

• India VIX: Stability persisted in the market, which kept the volatility low. The index ended 1.4% higher at 13.8075 points on Wednesday.

Asian stocks rally
Stocks in Asia extended gains following a sharp rally on Wall Street after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell signaled a slowdown in the pace of rate hikes. Japanese equities rose, Australians shares headed for a seven-month high and US and Hong Kong futures climbed.

• Hang Seng futures rose 2.1%
• Japan’s Topix Index rose 0.6%
• Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index rose 0.9%

Wall Street ends sharply higher
Wall Street ended sharply higher on Wednesday after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said the central bank might scale back the pace of its interest rate hikes as soon as December.

• S&P 500 climbed 3.09%
• Nasdaq gained 4.41%
• Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 2.18%

Dollar sinks to 3-month low vs yen
The dollar tumbled to a three-month low versus the yen on Thursday as traders keyed on comments by Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell that interest rate hikes could be scaled back "as soon as December." The greenback was 0.48% lower at 137.39 yen in the Asian morning, after earlier dipping to 137.27 for the first time since Aug. 26.

• Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index fell 0.3%
• Euro rose 0.2% to $1.0432
• Japanese yen rose 0.6% to 137.22 per dollar
• Offshore yuan rose 0.3% to 7.0267 per dollar

FII/DII action
Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) on Wednesday net bought shares worth a whopping Rs 9,010 crore, provisional data showed. DIIs on the other hand, net sold shares to the tune of Rs 4,056 crore.

Stocks in F&O ban today
Bharat Heavy Electricals, Delta Corp, Indiabulls Housing Finance, and Punjab National Bank. Securities in the ban period under the F&O segment include companies in which the security has crossed 95% of the market-wide position limit.

Rupee ends at 2-week high
The Indian unit ended at a two-week high on Wednesday amid persistent selling of dollars by FPIs. The rupee settled at 81.4225 a dollar, compared with 81.72 on Tuesday. The rupee has ended higher against the greenback for the 1st time in 10 months in November.

Macro news

• India’s GDP growth slowed to 6.3% in July-September, from 13.5% a quarter ago, primarily due to a sharp decline in the manufacturing sector, which offset the growth in services sector.

• Growth in the output of 8 core industries, which make for about 40% of the total weight of the index of industrial production, slumped to a 20-month low of 0.1% in October. This was mainly due to a fall in the production of refinery products, crude oil, and natural gas.

• Eurozone inflation fell more than expected to 10.0% in November, according to preliminary data released on Wednesday

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