Indian stock market: 6 key things that changed for market over weekend - Gift Nifty to Hindenburg report on Sebi Chief

Indian stock market: The domestic equity market indices, Sensex and Nifty 50, are expected to open on a weak note Monday amid cautious investor sentiment after the latest Hindenburg report, and ahead of key domestic inflation data today amid mixed global market cues.

Asian markets traded mixed, while the US stock market ended higher in the previous session

Indian stock market may remain volatile on Monday due to the new allegations by Hindenburg Research against Sebi Chairperson Madhabi Puri Buch in its latest salvo in the Adani Group controversy.

Analysts expect there may be a knee-jerk reaction in the stock market today, but do not expect any major selling wave in either Adani Group stocks or overall market due to the latest Hindenburg report as they believe the allegations were ‘without conclusive evidence and just to create noise in the market.’

On Friday, the India stock market benchmark indices ended over a percent higher each led by a rally in index heavyweights amid supportive global cues after new data eased fears of a brewing US recession.

The Sensex jumped 819.69 points, or 1.04%, to close at 79,705.91, while the Nifty 50 settled 250.50 points, or 1.04%, higher at 24,367.50.

“I do not expect too much impact on the stock market due to the latest Hindenburg report. There may be an initial reaction, but buying will eventually come up in the market. Adani Group stocks will also have no major negative impact of these latest developments. The shares of Adani group companies may fall in the beginning, but will recover,” said Sudip Bandyopadhyay, Group Chairman of Inditrade Capital.

This week, investors will watch out for the latest developments in the Adani-Hindenburg saga, the next set of Q1 results, China’s interest rates and economic activity data, India’s IIP and CPI inflation data, upcoming IPOs, global geopolitical developments and other key triggers that will impact the stock market.

Here are key global market cues for Sensex today:

Asian Markets

Asian markets traded mixed on Monday ahead of key economic data in the region this week. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan edged up 0.2%.

Japan markets were closed for a holiday. Nikkei futures traded at 35,370 compared to a cash close of 35,025. South Korea’s Kospi gained 1.20% at open, while the Kosdaq rose 1.42%.

Hong Kong Hang Seng index futures indicated a slightly lower opening.

Gift Nifty Today

Gift Nifty was trading around 24,370 level, a discount of nearly 30 points from the Nifty futures’ previous close, indicating a negative start for the Indian stock market indices.

Wall Street

US stock market ended higher on Friday, recovering most of its losses from the market rout earlier in the week.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 51.05 points, or 0.13%, to 39,497.54, while the S&P 500 rose 0.47% to 5,344.16. The Nasdaq Composite closed 0.51% higher at 16,745.30.

For the week, the Dow and the Nasdaq declined 0.6% and 0.18%, respectively.

Hindenburg Report

US-based short seller Hindenburg Research, in its latest investigative report, has alleged that SEBI chairperson Madhabi Puri Buch had a stake in obscure offshore entities used in Adani’s ‘money siphoning scandal’.

While Adani Group has dismissed the allegations, terming them as “malicious”, “mischievous”, and “manipulative”, Sebi chairperson and her husband Dhaval Buch also termed the Hindenburg report as ‘baseless’, ‘devoid of any truth’ and an attempted ‘character assassination’.

Oil Prices

Crude oil prices were little changed on Monday, holding on to most of last week’s more than 3% gains.

Brent crude futures fell 0.09% to $79.59 a barrel, while US West Texas Intermediate crude futures rose 0.03% to $76.86.

Currencies

The yen was a tad softer against the US dollar, pulling further off the seven-month high it touched last week. The dollar traded at 146.87 yen, up 0.2% from late US levels on Friday. The euro stood at $1.0918 and the dollar index was flat at 103.18.

(With inputs from Reuters)

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