Monday Mood! Markets may open on a negative note

18 Mar 2024 , 08:54 AM

Indian benchmark indices may start today’s session with declines. On Friday, markets closed in a dim sentiment. BSE Sensex ended 453 points lower at 72,643. NSE Nifty closed 123 points lower at 22,023.

On the global front, Wall Street stocks dropped on Friday, driven by tech-related megcaps that fueled this year’s rally. Dow Jones closed 190 points lower. The Nasdaq Composite index ended with a decline of 155 points. S&P 500 witnessed a decline of 33 points at the closing.

Asian equities rose on Monday as Chinese data surprised to the upside, but investors sought to negotiate a minefield of central bank meetings this week that might see the end of Japan’s free money and a slower glide path for US rate reduction.

Chinese Shanghai Composite is trading 0.18% higher. Japan’s Nikkei 225 index closed with a gain of 2.10%. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index is trading 0.09% higher. South Korean Kospi index is up by 0.53%. Taiwan index is trading with a gain of 0.50%.

On Friday, UPL, Bharti Airtel, HDFC Life, Bajaj Finance, and Adani Ports ended as the top gainers. Whereas Mahindra & Mahindra, BPCL, Coal India, Tata Motors, Hero MotoCorp ended as the biggest laggards.

The rupee fell 2 paise to 82.86 versus the US dollar on Friday, pressured down by continued foreign investment outflows and a downward trend in local markets.

Oil prices increased in early Asian trade on Monday, building on gains from the previous week, when prices jumped about 4% on the belief that supply was tightening. Brent crude oil futures for May delivery rose 3 cents to $85.37 a barrel by 0045 GMT. The April contract for U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) oil rose 10 cents to $81.14.

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