Indian Benchmark Indices May Start Flat

17 Oct 2023 , 08:53 AM

Indian benchmark indices may start with flat numbers as investors are baffled by the developments in the Middle East. Yesterday, markets closed in red. Sensex closed with a decline of 116 points at 66,167. Nifty 50 ended 19 points lower at 19,732.

The GIFT Nifty on the NSE IX indicated a slight uptick, trading 5.5 points higher, or 0.03%, at 19,816.50. This suggests that the start of trading on Dalal Street on Tuesday is likely to be relatively subdued.

Globally, US markets closed sharply higher as investors were positive on the earnings season ahead. Dow Jones closed 314 points higher. The Nasdaq Composite ended with a gain of 161 points. S&P 500 closed 1.06% higher.

Asian peers are trading in mixed numbers. Chinese Shanghai Composite is trading 0.16% lower. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng is trading with a gain of 0.26%. Japan’s Nikkei 225 closed 0.90% higher. Taiwan index was trading 0.39% higher. South Korean Kospi is trading with a gain of 0.81%.

Nifty Midcap 50 stocks closed 0.19% higher. Nifty Bank index ended with a decline of 0.14%.

On Monday, Hero MotoCorp, JSW Steel, Tata Steel, LTIMindtree, and UPL ended as the top laggards. Divis Lab, Nestle India, TCS, IndusInd Bank, and Adani Ports were the biggest losers.

Oil prices steadied on Tuesday after falling by more than $1 on Monday on optimism that the United States will lift sanctions against supplier Venezuela. 

On Monday, the rupee maintained a tight range and ended the day 3 paise higher at 83.27 versus the US dollar.