Indian stock market: 8 key things that changed for market overnight - Gift Nifty, iPhone China sales to Bitcoin prices

Indian stock market: The domestic equity market is expected to open lower on Wednesday tracking weak global market cues.

Asian markets traded mostly lower, while the US stock indices closed in the red overnight amid selling technology stocks.

Investors now await US Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s testimony before lawmakers on Wednesday and Thursday for more clues about interest rate policy along with economic data, including the crucial non-farm payrolls report, due out on Friday.

On Tuesday, the Indian stock market indices snapped their four-day winning streak and ended lower amid weak global cues.

The Sensex fell 195.16 points, or 0.26%, to close at 73,677.13, while the Nifty 50 settled 49.30 points, or 0.22%, lower at 22,356.30.

“Investors are awaiting Fed Chair Powell’s testimony to get some input on interest rates. Overall, markets are likely to consolidate in the near term with sectorial rotation amid key events lined up. Capital Goods, Auto, PSU Bank, and Oil & Gas will continue to remain in focus,” said Siddhartha Khemka, Head - Retail Research, Motilal Oswal Financial Services Ltd.

Also Read: Stock market today: Day trading guide for Nifty 50 to Bank Nifty, six stocks to buy or sell on Wednesday — 6th March

Here are key global market cues for Sensex today:

Asian Markets

Asian markets traded mixed on Wednesday following overnight losses on Wall Street amid a slide in tech stocks.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell 0.2%, while the Topix gained 0.3%. South Korea’s broader Kospi declined 0.25% and the Kosdaq rose 0.49%. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index futures indicated a higher opening.

Gift Nifty Today

Gift Nifty was trading lower at around 22,405 level, a discount of more than 20 points from Nifty futures’ previous close, indicating a negative start for the Indian stock market indices.

Wall Street

The US stock market indices declined more than 1% on Tuesday dragged by selling in megacap growth stocks and chip sector companies ahead of this week’s economic data and remarks from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 404.64 points, or 1.04%, to 38,585.19, while the S&P 500 fell 52.3 points, or 1.02%, to 5,078.65. The Nasdaq Composite ended 267.92 points, or 1.65%, lower at 15,939.59.

Among stocks, Apple shares fell 2.8%, while Tesla shares plunged 3.9%. Target shares jumped 12%, while Microstrategy shares tumbled 21%.

Also Read: Buy or sell: Vaishali Parekh recommends three stocks to buy today — March 6

US Service PMI

US services industry growth slowed in February amid a decline in employment, but a measure of new orders increased to a six-month high, pointing to underlying strength in the sector.

The Institute for Supply Management (ISM) said its non-manufacturing PMI slipped to 52.6 last month from 53.4 in January. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast the index little changed at 53.0.

Apple China Sales

Apple’s iPhone sales in China fell 24% year-on-year in the first six weeks of 2024, according to research firm Counterpoint, amid increased competition from domestic rivals such as Huawei. Apple's share of the Chinese smartphone market dropped to 15.7%, putting it in fourth place, from second place in the year-ago period when it had 19% market share, Reuters reported.

Apple share price closed 2.8% lower on Tuesday and has lost about 12% of its value so far this year.

Bitcoin price

Bitcoin prices surged to an all-time high surpassing $69,000 on Tuesday, driven by increased accessibility for trading and constrained supplies of the world's largest cryptocurrency. The price of Bitcoin soared to $69,191.94, surpassing its previous record of $68,991 set in November 2021.

Read here: Bitcoin surpasses $69,000 mark, beating record of $68,991 in Nov 2021

US dollar

The US dollar was largely steady ahead of congressional testimony from Fed Chair Powell and the European Central Bank rate decision and US jobs data later this week. The dollar index, which measures the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, was mostly unchanged at 103.82.

Oil Prices

Crude oil prices steadied after a two-day decline. Brent crude oil eased 0.04% to $82.01 a barrel, while the US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures fell 0.03% to $78.13.

(With inputs from Reuters)

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