Opening Bell:
Gift Nifty is up by 21 points in the early morning trade, indicating a positive opening for Indian stock market.
Asian markets were trading lower on Wednesday, tracking Wall Street losses.
Japan’s Nikkei advanced towards record highs on Thursday with investors shrugging off dismal business activity data from the country, while other Asia-Pacific markets traded mixed. Nikkei 225 was up 1.7 percent as investors assessed Japan’s Jibun Bank flash purchasing managers’ index reading for February that showed business activity contracted yet again.
The S&P 500 and Dow Jones industrials eked out small gains on Wednesday, while the Nasdaq closed lower for a third straight session as investors awaited the release of Nvidia’s earnings that could determine near-term momentum for equities. The S&P 500 climbed 0.13 percent to end the session at 4,981.80 points. The Nasdaq declined 0.32 percent to 15,580.87 points, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.13 percent to 38,612.24 points.
Stocks News:
👉 LTIMindtree has signed a MoU with Eurolife FFH to set up Gen Al and digital hubs in Europe and India. The facilities will be developed in Poland, Europe, and Mumbai. Eurolife FFH will set up the Generative Al and Digital Hub in Athens to develop innovative solutions for insurance businesses in Greece, and LTIMindtree will provide deep domain expertise and support from its dedicated facilities in Poland and Mumbai.
👉 Apollo Microsystems announced that SBI sanctioned a Rs 110 crore term loan for the company. The funding will be used to establish the Integrated Plant for Ingenious Defense Systems (IPiDS) at Hardware Park, Hyderabad.
👉 Brigade Enterprises announced it signed a joint development agreement with PVP Ventures to develop a 2.5 million-square-foot high-rise residential project spread across 16 acres in Perambur, Chennai, with a revenue potential of about Rs 2000 crore. The company’s subsidiary, Brigade Hotel Ventures, has signed a 45-year lease agreement with the landowners to build a 250-room resort on East Coast Road (ECR) in Chennai.
👉 Eureka Forbes promoter Lunolux is likely to sell up to a 12 percent stake, or 2.3 crore shares, through block deals. The floor price of the deal is set at Rs 494.75, a discount of 3 percent, and the deal size is Rs 1150 crore.
👉 Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) net bought shares worth Rs 284.66 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) sold Rs 411.57 crore worth of stocks on February 21, provisional data from the NSE showed.
Domestic and International Events
- Japan’s factory activity extended declines and service sector growth eased in February, surveys showed on Thursday, suggesting business conditions were worsening as the economy struggles to emerge from recession.
- Global brokerage Jefferies on February 21 said India will be the third largest economy by 2027 thanks to consistent GDP growth rate, supportive geopolitics, surging market cap, continued reforms and strong corporate culture.
- Gold price extends its bullish streak for the fourth straight trading session on Tuesday. The outlook for the precious metal has strengthened as commentary from Federal Reserve (Fed) policymakers that inflation is broadly moving in the right direction has faded the impact of stubborn Consumer Price Index (CPI) and Producer Price Index (PPI) data for January.
- Oil prices rose 1 percent on Wednesday as geopolitical tensions raged on in the Middle East and traders assessed signs of near-term supply tightness. US West Texas Intermediate crude futures (WTI) rose 87 cents, or 1.1 percent, to settle at $77.91 a barrel, while Brent crude rose 69 cents, or 0.8 percent, to $83.03 a barrel
| EMERGING | LATEST | % 1D |
| Hang Seng | 16,503 | 1.6 % |
| Shanghai Composite | 2,951 | 1.0 % |
| DEVELOPED | LATEST | % 1D |
| Dow Jones | 38,612 | 0.1 % |
| DAX | 17,118 | 0.3 % |
| FTSE 100 | 7,663 | (0.7) % |
| Nikkei | 38,262 | (0.3) % |
| Straits Times | 3,217 | (0.8) % |
