Live Stock Market News: Indian indices set to open higher, led by Wall Street, Asian markets

LIVE Stock Market Updates Friday, September 20, 2024: Indian markets headed for a strong open on Friday, buoyed by overnight gains on Wall Street that also fuelled gains in Asian markets.

At 7:25 am, Nifty GIFT futures were trading at 25,533, around 50 points higher than the last close of Nifty futures.

Despite a choppy session, Indian markets ended Thursday higher, with the BSE Sensex rising 236.57 points or 0.29 per cent to end at 83,184.80. It touched an all-time high of 83,773.61 during the session.

Meanwhile, the Nifty 50 index rebounded from a record high of 25,611.95 to close Thursday’s session at 25,415.80, up 38.25 points or 0.15 per cent.

However, frontier markets closed lower, with small-cap stocks suffering the most.

In the sectors, Bank Nifty advanced for the sixth consecutive session, led by AU Bank and Kotak Bank. Nifty FMCG was the top sectoral gainer, ending 0.60 per cent higher, led by UBL and Balrampur Chini Mills.

Nifty Realty rose 0.5 per cent to a one-month high, led by Phoenix and Oberoi Realty. Meanwhile, Media, PSU Bank, Metal Pharma, IT and OMCs indices settled lower among sectors.

Meanwhile, markets in the Asia-Pacific region opened higher on Friday, following a rise on Wall Street.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 led the gains, rising 1.76%, while Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.2%. The broader Topix was ahead by 1.63%.

South Korean blue-chip Kospi gained 1.45 percent, while small-cap Kosdaq rose 1.51 percent.

Hong Kong Hang Seng Index futures were at 18,177, up from the HSI’s last close of 18,013, while Chinese blue-chip CSI 300 futures were at 3,198.8, up from the index’s last close of 3,196.

Wall Street’s major stock indexes hit record highs overnight after global peers posted gains and Treasury yields rose on Thursday as the Federal Reserve began its first round of interest rate cuts in more than four years, boosting investors’ appetite for risk.

In a bigger-than-usual move on Wednesday, the U.S. central bank ended a year in which it kept borrowing costs at their highest level in decades in an attempt to curb inflation.

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said he saw no increased risk of a slowdown, and policymakers predicted the benchmark rate would fall again, as reflected in a closely watched tool known as a dot plot.

Megacap tech stocks gained, with Tesla and Meta posting solid gains. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite rose 2.51% to 18,013.98 points.

The blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.26% to 42,025.19 points, while the benchmark S&P 500 gained 1.70% to end at 5,713.64 points, both closing at record highs.

Smaller publicly traded companies, which could enjoy lower operating costs and cheaper debt in a lower-interest-rate environment, also benefited. The Russell 2000 small-cap index rose 2.1%.

The gains were not limited to Wall Street. The MSCI 47-country global stock index gained 1.66 percent to 839.98.

Jobless claims for the week ending September 14 came in lower than market expectations, with data showing the number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits fell to a four-month low.

That fueled a sell-off in U.S. government debt, sending yields higher. The benchmark 10-year Treasury yield hit a roughly two-week high of 3.768%, and was last up 3.2 basis points at 3.719%, from 3.687% on Wednesday evening.

Short-term bond yields were under pressure after separate data showed home sales fell to their lowest level since 2023. The yield on the 2-year Treasury note fell 1.5 basis points to 3.5876% from 3.603% on Wednesday evening.

In currency markets, the greenback weakened in volatile trade. The dollar index, which measures the U.S. dollar against a basket of currencies including the yen and euro, fell 0.41% to 100.61.

The Bank of England’s decision to leave interest rates unchanged did not spoil the mood on European markets, with the STOXX 600 index rising by over 1 percent.

A bonanza week for interest-rate decisions continues Friday at the Bank of Japan. It is not expected to act now, but it could buck the global trend and schedule another rate hike as early as October.

Gold rose 1.15 percent to $2,588.34 an ounce.

Oil prices rose, supported by the view that lower interest rates mean stronger demand. Benchmark Brent crude futures rose above $74 a barrel for the first time in more than a week to close at $74.88, up 1.67% on the day. U.S. crude closed 1.47% higher at $71.95 a barrel.