Indian Stock Market: 8 Major Things That Changed for the Market Overnight – Gift Nifty, US Unemployment Claims on Treasury Bond Yields

Indian stock market: The domestic stock market indices, Sensex and Nifty 50, are expected to open flat on Friday following mixed cues from global markets amid lackluster trading volumes.

Asian markets traded mixed, while the US stock market also finished mixed, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average extending its winning streak to five sessions.

On Thursday, the Indian stock market ended the lackluster session on a flat note.

The Sensex closed flat at 78,472.48, while the Nifty 50 was 22.55 points, or 0.1%, higher at 23,750.20.

“Sentiment remains fragile as unwinding of long positions continues and Nifty’s strength will be confirmed only if the 24,150 resistance level is breached,” said Prashanth Tapse, Senior VP (Research), Mehta Equities Ltd.

Here are the key global market signals for Sensex today:

Asian markets

Asian markets traded mixed on Friday, following the muted trend overnight on Wall Street as investors await economic data from the region.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 gained 0.51%, while the Topix rose 0.56%. South Korea’s Kospi fell 0.58% and the Kosdaq fell 0.61%.

Gift Useful today

Gift Nifty was trading around the 23,916 level, a discount of almost 3 points to the previous close of the Nifty futures, indicating a flat start for the Indian stock market indices.

Wall Street

The U.S. stock market finished mixed on Thursday amid light trading volumes and rising U.S. Treasury yields.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.07% to 43,325.80, while the S&P 500 fell 0.04% to 6,037.59. The Nasdaq Composite closed 0.05% lower at 20,020.357.

Tesla shares fell 1.8%, while Apple shares rose 0.3%. MicroStrategy, MARA Holdings and Coinbase Global all fell between 1.9% and 4.8%.

US Unemployment Claims

The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits fell last week to the lowest level in a month. Initial jobless claims fell by 1,000 to a seasonally adjusted 219,000 for the week ending December 21. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast 224,000 applications for the past week.

Interest on government bonds

U.S. Treasury yields fell earlier on Thursday with a strong auction of seven-year Treasury notes, after previously rising to an eight-month high during the holidays.

The 10-year yield after the auction was flat at 4.588%, having previously reached 4.641%, the highest level since May 2. The yield on the 30-year bond was just 0.5 basis points (bps) higher at 4.765%. The yield on two-year US government bonds rose 0.4 basis points to 4.334, after previously reaching 4.367%.

Monthly economic overview

India’s economy is expected to grow at around 6.5% in fiscal 2024-25, closer to the lower end of the 6.5-7% projection, as global uncertainties pose a dampening threat, the government said. Growth prospects for October to December appear bright, with rural demand remaining resilient and urban demand picking up in the first two months of the quarter, according to the Finance Ministry’s monthly economic report for November.

RBI report

According to the RBI data, banks’ profitability has improved for the sixth consecutive year during 2023-24 and their gross bad debts or NPAs have fallen to a 13-year low of 2.7%. “Bank profitability rose for the sixth consecutive year in 2023-24 and continued to rise in H1:2024-25, with a return on assets (RoA) of 1.4 percent and a return on equity (RoE) of 14, 6 percent,” said the report on the trend and progress of banking in India 2023-2024.

Bank of Japan

Some Bank of Japan policymakers saw the conditions for an upcoming rate hike falling into place. One predicted a move “in the near future,” a summary of views at the bank’s December meeting showed, keeping alive the possibility of a January rate hike, Reuters reported. The BOJ kept interest rates steady at 0.25% at this month’s meeting.

(With input from Reuters)

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