Opening Bell:
Gift Nifty is up by 29.5 points in the early morning trade, indicating a positive opening for Indian stock market.
Asia-Pacific markets fell ahead of the Bank of Japan’s rate decision, which investors will be closely watching to determine if the central bank will make any change to its ultra-easy monetary policy. Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell 1.15% ahead of the BOJ decision, while the Topix slid 0.92%. In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 shed 1.4%, leading losses in Asia. South Korea’s Kospi saw a smaller loss, dropping 0.87%, while the Kosdaq slipped 0.7%. Futures for Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index stood at 17,585, also pointing to a weaker open compared to the HSI’s close of 17,655.41.
Overnight, stock futures remained flat as the week ends with significant losses. The Dow Jones Industrial Average futures barely budged, and both S&P 500 futures and Nasdaq 100 futures showed no significant movement.
This follows a three-day losing streak for all three major stock indices, triggered by the Federal Reserve’s announcement of a prolonged period of higher interest rates, potentially impacting risk assets like stocks. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite have seen declines of 2.7% and 3.5% this week, respectively, marking their worst week since March and the third consecutive week of losses. Meanwhile, the Dow has slipped 1.6% during this time. Bond yields have surged, with the 10-year Treasury yield reaching 4.498%, the highest since 2007, after the central bank indicated one more rate hike for 2023. The 2-year rate also climbed to 5.2%, its highest level since 2006.
Stocks News:
👉 InterGlobe Aviation: India’s largest airline IndiGo has signed a codeshare partnership with UK flag carrier British Airways. InterGlobe Aviation-promoted IndiGo currently has codeshare partnerships with Turkish Airlines, Qatar Airways, Qantas, Virgin Atlantic, KLM, American Airlines, and Air France. Under a codeshare agreement, airlines agree to sell seats on each other’s flights in order to provide their respective customers with a wider network.
👉 Glenmark Pharmaceuticals: The global pharmaceutical company has entered into a definitive agreement with Nirma to divest a 75% stake in its subsidiary, Glenmark Life Sciences (GLS). The firm will sell the stake for Rs 5,651.5 crore, at the price of Rs 615 per share. Post the stake sale, Glenmark Pharma will own a 7.84% share in GLS and Nirma will then make a mandatory open offer to all public shareholders of GLS.
👉 JSW Steel: Caretta Minerals LLC, a step-down subsidiary of Periama Holding LLC, has entered into an agreement to sell its property, plant and equipment and mineral rights to West Virginia Properties for $24 million as operating the mines are not economically viable in the absence of coal mining lease and plant lease. Periama Holding LLC is a step-down subsidiary of JSW Steel.
👉 Samhi Hotels/Zaggle Prepaid Ocean Services: The two companies will debut at the bourses on Friday. Dealers who are active in the unlisted market have reported that Samhi Hotels currently holds a grey market premium (GMP) ranging between 3 to 6 per cent over its issue price of ₹126. The shares of Zaggle are currently commanding a grey market premium (GMP) of ₹15 per share.
👉 Foreign institutional investors (FII) sold shares worth Rs 3,007.36 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DII) bought Rs 1,158.14 crore worth of stocks on September 21, provisional data from the National Stock Exchange (NSE) showed.
Domestic and International Events
- India is unlikely to export sugar in 2023-24 season as output will be less than a year earlier, Kona Haque, head of research at ED&F Man Commodities said on Thursday. India allowed mills to export only 6.1 million tonnes of sugar during the current season to Sept. 30, nearly half of the record 11.1 million tonnes sold last season. The country is likely to receive an average amount of rainfall in September, after the driest August in more than a century. Although September rains would help the sugarcane crop, yields would be lower due to lower rainfall in August.
- The US Federal Reserve announced its interest rate decision on September 20, after a two-day Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting and left the benchmark interest rates unchanged at 5.25 per cent – 5.50 per cent. Fed policymakers have raised the US gross domestic product (GDP) projection to 2.1 per cent this year, a notable upgrade from the 1 per cent growth projected in June, and expanding by 1.5 per cent next year.
- Oil prices rebounded in trading on Thursday, after a Russian ban on fuel exports snapped focus away from Western economic headwinds and back to throttled crude supply to the end of 2023. Brent futures for November delivery were up 14 cents, or 0.15%, to $93.67 a barrel. US West Texas Intermediate crude climbed 34 cents, or 0.41%, to $90.00, the lowest since Sept. 14. Both benchmarks had fallen more than $1 earlier on Thursday. Russia temporarily banned exports of gasoline and diesel to all countries outside a circle of four ex-Soviet states with immediate effect in order to stabilize the domestic fuel market, the government said on Thursday.
- Gold extended its decline for a third consecutive on Thursday, weighed by the surge in the US dollar and US bond yields after the Federal Reserve hardened its hawkish posture on interest rates. Spot gold shed 0.6 percent to $1,917.65 per ounce, having briefly touched its highest since Sept. 1 before closing lower in the previous session. US gold futures eased 1.5 percent to $1,938.00.
Key Equity Indices
| EMERGING | LATEST | % 1D |
| Hang Seng | 17,655 | (1.3) % |
| Shanghai Composite | 3,085 | (0.8) % |
| DEVELOPED | LATEST | % 1D |
| Dow Jones | 34,070 | (1.1) % |
| DAX | 15,572 | (1.3) % |
| FTSE 100 | 7,679 | (0.7) % |
| Nikkei | 32,571 | (1.4) % |
| Straits Times | 3,203 | (1.2) % |
