Market set for gap-down opening today!
On Thursday, Indian markets are set for a negative start as SGX Nifty indicates a gap-down opening. At the time of writing, SGX Nifty was down by 151 points at 9,248 level. On the earnings front, Biocon, Escorts, Manappuram Finance and Tata Consumer Products are some of the key corporates slated to report their March quarter earnings today.
Asian stocks were trading in red on Thursday following sell-off on Wall Street. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng has lost 1.42 per cent, Japan’s Nikkei 225 has slipped 0.77 per cent and China’s Shanghai Composite dropped 0.63 per cent.
The much-awaited and needed stimulus package was announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The bulls cheered the announcement as the key benchmark index started off the day with a gap-up. However, post the gap-up, key benchmark index failed to capitalise on the initial frenzy and thereafter, it traded mostly in a range bound manner. At the end, Nifty and BSE Sensex surged 2.03 per cent each. In-line with frontline indices, the broader markets Nifty Mid-cap and Small-cap gained 2.29 and 2.50 per cent, respectively. Barring Nifty Pharma and Nifty FMCG, all other sectoral indices ended in green with Nifty PSU Bank and Nifty Bank being the top gainers.
On Wednesday, US stocks tumbled early in the session and traded firmly in red throughout the day. The weakness on Wall Street comes as traders react to the comment from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, who said that the central bank may take additional steps to support the economy but is not considering the matter of adopting negative interest rates. At the end of the day, Dow lost nearly 2.17 per cent, Nasdaq plunged 1.55 per cent and S&P 500 tumbled 1.75 per cent.
European markets ends notably lower on Wednesday as worries about a deep recession mounted after some reports stated that Coronavirus infections were increasing after reopening of businesses. CAC 40 of France tumbled 2.85 per cent and Germany’s DAX lost 2.56 per cent. Meanwhile, FTSE 100 of UK plunged 1.51 per cent.