Before the market opens today, these are the 10 most popular things to know.

  • March 4, 2022, 11:52 a.m.

The Indian stock market is expected to open in the red as trends on SGX Nifty indicate a gap-down opening for the broader index in India with a loss of 231 points.

The BSE Sensex fell 366 points to 55,103 while the Nifty50 declined 108 points to 16,498 and formed a Bearish Engulfing or Inside Bar kind of pattern on the daily charts, especially after the Doji pattern formation in the previous session, indicating negative sentiment.

As per the pivot charts, the key support level for the Nifty is placed at 16,371, followed by 16,244. If the index moves up, key resistance levels to watch out for are 16,697 and 16,896.

Stay tuned to Moneycontrol to find out what happens in the currency and equity markets today. We have collated a list of important headlines across news platforms that could impact Indian as well as international markets:

US market

US stocks initially rose, extending a rally on Wednesday after Powell eased widely held expectations of a 50 basis-point hike in interest rates when policymakers meet in two weeks. But stocks later fell after Powell told a Senate committee on a second day of testimony before Congress that Russia's war in Ukraine could hit the US economy with higher prices and dampened spending and investment.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.29%, the S & P 500 lost 0.53%, and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 1.56%.

Asian markets

Shares in Asia-Pacific slipped in Friday's trade as investors remain on edge over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The Nikkei 225 in Japan slipped 2.47% while the Topix index shed 1.99%.

SGX Nifty

Trends on SGX Nifty indicate a gap-down opening for the broader index in India with a loss of 231 points. The Nifty futures were trading at around 16,280 levels on the Singaporean exchange.

Oil prices

Oil prices initially soared on Thursday as the Ukraine war sparked a run on commodities that raised fears of "stagflation", while equity markets fell as investors gauged the impact of the US Federal Reserve's plans to tighten monetary policy.

Brent crude futures, the international benchmark for oil, climbed to within 16 cents of $120 a barrel before falling on hopes the United States and Iran would soon agree to a nuclear deal that could add output to a badly undersupplied market.

Gold gains after Russia attacks Europe's largest nuclear plant.

Gold rose on Friday, eyeing its best weekly gain since May 2021, as investors scrambled for safe-haven assets after Russia attacked a nuclear power plant in Ukraine, the largest of its kind in Europe.

Spot gold rose 0.6% to $1,946.41 per ounce by 0100 GMT and was on track for a weekly gain of about 3%. US gold futures also rose 0.6% to $1,948.60.

Ahead of its IPO, LIC appoints insurance veteran Sunil Agrawal as CFO.

Ahead of its mega IPO launch, Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) announced on March 3 that it had appointed insurance veteran Sunil Agrawal as the new chief financial officer (CFO), Bloomberg reported. He has been appointed on a contractual basis starting in March 2022.

LIC had advertised for the appointment of a CFO six months ago, in September 2021. The public notice issued by the 65-year-old insurer had stated that the post would be contractual, with a three-year term or till the new LIC CFO reaches 63 years of age. It was further mentioned that the remuneration for the same would be Rs 75 lakh per annum.

US weekly jobless claims decline further as labour market tightens.

The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits dropped to its lowest level this year last week, while layoffs declined sharply in February, indicating that the labor market recovery was gaining steam.

Initial claims for state unemployment benefits dropped 18,000 to a seasonally adjusted 215,000 for the week ended Feb. 26, the lowest level since January 1, the Labor Department said. Reuters economists polled by Reuters had forecasted 225,000 applications for the latest week.

South Korea's Feb inflation accelerates to a near decade high amid the Ukraine crisis.

South Korea's consumer inflation hovered near a decade high in February and stood above the central bank's 2% target for an 11th month, adding pressure on policymakers to raise interest rates amid surging oil prices due to the Russia-Ukraine crisis.

The consumer price index (CPI) for February rose 3.7% from a year earlier, government data showed on Friday, exceeding a 3.5% gain tipped in a Reuters survey and a notch below the decade high of 3.8% marked in November. It rose 3.6% in January.

The Russian rouble falls to new lows after ratings downgrades.

The Russian rouble slumped to new record lows against the dollar and euro on Thursday after Fitch and Moody's downgraded Russia's sovereign debt to "junk" status, with steps by the central bank and finance ministry failing to halt its slide.

The rouble was more than 9% weaker against the dollar at 117.4 and down over 7% against the euro at 125.1 on the Moscow Exchange, marking the first time the rouble has traded weaker than 110 to the dollar in Moscow and the first time it has breached 123 to the euro.

FII and DII data

Relentless selling pressure by foreign institutional investors weighed on the market as FIIs net sold shares worth Rs 6,644.65 crore. However, domestic institutional investors (DIIs) have bought shares worth Rs 4,799.24 crore, as per provisional data available on the NSE.

Author : Rajdhani Delhi Representative

Rajdhani delhi representative

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