SGX Nifty rises 60 points: Here's what changed for market while you were sleeping

Domestic equity markets look set for a positive start on Friday ahead of RBI's policy meet outcome. Asian stocks were trading mostly higher, whereas US stocks settled mixed ahead of jobs data to be released later in the day. Back home, traders are expecting a 35-50 basis point rate hike by the central bank, which is largely priced in, said analysts. Here's breaking down the pre-market actions:

STATE OF THE MARKETS

SGX Nifty signals a positive start
Nifty futures on the Singapore Exchange traded 58 points, or 0.33 per cent, higher at 17,455, signalling that Dalal Street was headed for a positive start on Friday.

• Tech View: Nifty50 on Thursday settled almost flat, but snapped a six day winning run. The index ended up forming a small bearish candle on the daily chart, with a long lower wick. Analysts said the index turned sideways after the recent rally and expect it to find support around 17,200 level.

• India VIX: The fear gauge surged more than 4 per cent to 19.26 level on Thursday over its close at 18.45 on Wednesday.

Asian stocks trade mostly higher
Asian stocks traded higher Friday following tech gains on Wall Street while more businesses reported that higher raw material prices were weighing on profits. MSCI's index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was up by 0.53 per cent.

• Japan's Nikkei advanced 0.72%
• Australia's ASX 200 gained 0.43%
• New Zealand's DJ dropped 0.24%
• South Korea's Kospi jumped 0.76%
• China's Shanghai retreated 0.05%
• Hong Kong's Hang Seng fell 0.12%

US stocks settle mixed
Wall Street's main indexes ended in a dull session on Thursday as gains in high-growth stocks offset losses in energy shares, with investors looking ahead to monthly jobs reports for clues on the pace of interest rate hikes by the Federal Reserve.

• Dow Jones declined 0.26% to 32,726.82
• S&P 500 dropped 0.08% to 4,151.94
• Nasdaq advanced 0.41% to 12,720.58

Dollar on backfoot
The dollar struggled to gain a footing on Friday after falling by its sharpest pace in two weeks, as investors remained on tenterhooks ahead of the widely anticipated U.S. jobs data and amid growing worries about a recession.

• Dollar index pinned at 105.79
• Euro jumped up to $1.0238
• Pound held steady at $1.2157
• Yen was struggled at 132.9 per dollar
• Yuan exchanged hands at 6.7473 against the greenback

Oil prices extend losses
Oil prices extended losses on Friday, after hitting their lowest since before Russia's February invasion of Ukraine in the previous session, as the market fretted over the impact of inflation on global economic growth and demand.

Brent crude dropped 10 cents, or 0.1 per cent, to $94.02 a barrel by 0047 GMT, while US West Texas Intermediate crude was at $88.48 a barrel, down 6 cents.

FIIs buy shares worth Rs 1,475 cr
Net-net, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) turned buyers of domestic stocks to the tune of Rs 1474.77 crore, data available with NSE suggested. However, DIIs turned net sellers to the tune of Rs 46.79 crore, data suggests.

Q1 results today
Titan Company, Mahindra & Mahindra, FSN E-commerce Ventures, One97 Communications, Alkem Laboratories, Petronet LNG, NMDC, Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail, Motherson Sumi Wiring India, Fortis Healthcare, Pfizer, IRB Infra and UCO Bank are among the companies that will announce their earnings for the quarter ended June 2022.

Stocks in F&O ban today
Only one stock - Escorts Kubota - is under the F&O ban for Friday, August 5. Securities in the ban period under the F&O segment include companies in which the security has crossed 95 per cent of the market-wide position limit.

MONEY MARKETS
Rupee: The rupee depreciated by 25 paise to close at 79.40 against the US dollar on Thursday, posting its second day of losses amid disappointing macroeconomic data and US-China tensions. Participants also stayed on the sidelines ahead of the RBI's interest rate decision on Friday,

10-year bonds: India 10-year bond plunged sharply by 1.17 per cent to 7.16 after trading in 7.15 - 7.24 range on Thursday.

Call rates: The overnight call money rate weighted average stood at 4.66 per cent on Wednesday, according to RBI data. It moved in a range of 3.25-4.85 per cent.