Markets are likely to remain volatile on Thursday, while trends in SGX Nifty suggest a flat open for benchmark Indian stock indices. Traders are likely to be cautious ahead of the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) monetary policy review on Friday. The central bank is likely to keep interest rates unchanged, but markets will be very attentive to your comments on inflation.
On Wednesday, the BSE Sensex closed at 44,618.04, down 37.40 points or 0.08%. The Nifty was at 13,113.75, an increase of 4.70 points or 0.04%.
Also read: Main actions that may be in focus on Thursday
Asian stocks mixed Thursday after a hectic day of Wall Street trading on a disappointing U.S. jobs report, while the dollar languished near 2.5-year lows on growing optimism for a vaccine against the coronavirus.
Britain became the first Western country to approve a COVID-19 vaccine, with 800,000 doses of the Pfizer and BioNTech vaccine available to those at high risk starting next week.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration will hold its advisory committee meeting next week, while New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has said the state’s first installment, enough for 170,000 residents, is expected on 15 December.
Hopes that the pandemic, which has so far killed nearly 1.5 million worldwide, will finally come to its knees prompted a risk spike in the currency markets with Australian and New Zealand dollars advancing against their US counterparts.
Hopes for a fiscal support package in the United States also fueled investor optimism, but equity traders were less enthusiastic.
Concerns that the US economy may be slowing weighed on stocks after US private payrolls showed fewer jobs were added than expected in November as mounting new COVID-19 infections led to additional trade restrictions.
The markets regulator has questioned BSE’s promptness in liquidating the reorganization of the capital stock of Future Group firms, as part of a $ 3.5 billion acquisition by Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL), despite four complaints without settle against the deal, including one from Amazon.com Inc.
Reliance Capital Ltd (RCap) has received preliminary offers from private equity firms, including Blackstone, Bain Capital and Oaktree, for the companies it has put up for sale, according to a report by Mint.
Tata Sons Pvt Ltd, promoter of Tata Chemicals bought 1.81 million shares or 0.71% for ₹Rs 76 crore in an open market transaction on Wednesday. Based on data from the bulk deal at NSE, Tata Sons acquired 18,07,245 shares of Tata Chemicals for ₹420.92 each for a total of ₹76.07 crore.
Telecommunications principal Bharti Airtel reported Wednesday that its wholly owned subsidiary Nettle Infrastructure Investments Limited bought an additional 4.94% stake in Bharti Infratel for ₹2,882.32 crore through block deals.
In commodities, oil prices fell Thursday after rising overnight on hopes of the covid-19 vaccine and expectations that producing countries will keep limits on their production.
Brent crude fell 13 cents to $ 48.11 a barrel, while US light crude fell 15 cents to $ 45.13. Gold was slightly weaker at $ 1,827 an ounce.
(Reuters contributed to the story)
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