Indian stock market: 8 key things that changed for market overnight- Gift Nifty, Russia-Ukraine war to US jobless claims

Indian stock market: The domestic equity benchmark indices, Sensex and Nifty 50, are expected to open higher on Friday tracking positive cues from global peers.

Asian markets traded higher, while the US stock market ended on a strong note, with the S&P logging gains for a fourth straight day.

Market participants will be closely monitoring commentary from the US Federal Reserve officials before the mid-December FOMC meeting. Money-market bets favor a 25-basis-point interest rate cut by the Fed in December, according to the CME Group's FedWatch, Reuters reported.

Investors also continue to monitor the geopolitical tensions between Ukraine and Russia that sent crude prices higher.

On Thursday, the Indian stock market indices resumed their downward march and ended over half a percent lower each.

The Sensex dropped 422.59 points, or 0.54%, to close at 77,155.79, while the Nifty 50 settled 168.60 points, or 0.72%, lower at 23,349.90.

“In the near term, we expect the market to remain volatile on account of global geo-political concerns, relentless FII selling and uncertainty around the outcome of state assembly elections in Maharashtra and Jharkhand,” said Siddhartha Khemka, Head - Research, Wealth Management, Motilal Oswal Financial Services Ltd.

Here are key global market cues for Sensex today:

Asian Markets

Asian markets traded higher on Friday, following the overnight rally on Wall Street, and the release of economic data in the region.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 rallied 0.54% while the Topix gained 0.51%. South Korea’s Kospi gained 0.67%, while Kosdaq rose 0.47%. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index futures indicated a flat opening.

Gift Nifty Today

Gift Nifty was trading around 23,450 level, a premium of nearly 100 points from the Nifty futures’ previous close, indicating a positive start for the Indian stock market indices.

Wall Street

US stock market ended higher on Thursday, with the blue-chip Dow Jones and the S&P 500 hitting one-week tops.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average surged 461.88 points, or 1.06%, to 43,870.35, while the S&P 500 rose 31.60 points, or 0.53%, to 5,948.71. The Nasdaq Composite closed 6.28 points, or 0.03%, higher at 18,972.42.

Salesforce shares rallied 3.1%, while Nvidia stock price gained 0.5%. Alphabet share price declined 4.7% to touch a four-week low, and Amazon.com shares fell 2.2%. Deere stock price gained 8% and Snowflake stock jumped 32.7%.

Russia-Ukraine War

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that Russia had launched a hypersonic medium-range ballistic missile attack on a Ukrainian military facility, and warned the West that Moscow could strike the military installations of any country whose weapons were used against Russia, Reuters reported. Putin said the West was escalating the conflict in Ukraine by allowing Kyiv to strike Russia with long-range missiles, and that the conflict was becoming a global conflict.

US Fed Officials

Richmond Fed President Tom Barkin said the United States is more vulnerable to inflationary shocks than in the past, according to a media report. Chicago Federal Reserve President Austan Goolsbee said he supports further interest rate cuts and is open to doing them more slowly.

US Jobless Claims

The number of Americans filing new applications for unemployment benefits unexpectedly fell last week. Initial claims for state unemployment benefits dropped 6,000 to a seasonally adjusted 213,000 for the week ended November 16. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast 220,000 claims for the latest week.

Japan PMI

Japan's factory activity contracted for the fifth straight month in November due to sluggish demand. The au Jibun Bank flash Japan manufacturing purchasing managers’ index (PMI) slipped slightly to 49.0 in November from 49.2 in October. The au Jibun Bank flash services PMI grew to 50.2 in November, reversing its slight contraction of 49.7 in October, Reuters reported.

The au Jibun Bank flash Japan composite PMI, which combines both manufacturing and service sector activity, was 49.8 in November, the second straight month of contraction but modestly up from 49.6 in October.

Gold Prices Today

Gold prices were steady but poised for a weekly gain, led by safe-haven demand amid escalating geopolitical concerns. Spot gold was little changed at $2,669.99 per ounce and up over 4% for the week so far. US gold futures eased 0.1% to $2,672.00.

(With inputs from Reuters)

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