Markets may stay shaky; telecom stocks, Tata Consumer in focus
Asian equities opened lower on Wednesday on concerns about rising interest rates and rich equity valuations and following a downdraft in US and European overnight trading
MUMBAI : Indian equity markets are likely to remain wobbly on Wednesday. Trends in SGX Nifty suggest a flat opening for domestic benchmark indices. On Tuesday, the BSE Sensex closed at 49,751.41, up 7.09 points or 0.01%. The Nifty settled 0.22% higher at 14,707.80.
Asian equities opened lower on Wednesday on concerns about rising interest rates and rich equity valuations and following a downdraft in US and European overnight trading.
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The Dow and S&P 500 recouped early losses after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell reiterated in testimony before the Senate Banking Committee that monetary policy would remain accommodative and would not change without advance warning.
However, Powell’s testimony hasn’t fully swept away fears of rising inflation as the economies around the world are expected to rebound this year more strongly than was expected just weeks go as vaccines roll out around the world.
Back home, telecom stocks will be in focus as the sector regulator may consider lowering the minimum price for 5G spectrum if the government directs it to do so because of concerns that the pricing set for the airwaves could hurt the rollout of the latest wireless technology.
Tata Consumer Products Ltd will be in focus as it will replace GAIL (India) Ltd. in the benchmark Nifty 50 from March 31, 2021 as part of a semi-annual rejig.
Bharti Airtel Ltd said it will use US chip-maker Qualcomm Technologies Inc.’s technology to roll out fifth-generation, or 5G, telecom services in India.
Meanwhile, Brazil has fully approved the covid-19 vaccine developed by Pfizer Inc and BioNTech SE, its health regulator said on Tuesday, though a dispute over a supply deal means it has none to start an immunization program with.
Spot gold added 0.1% to $1,806.25 an ounce.The dollar index fell 0.037%, with the euro up 0.04% to $1.2154.
US crude settled down 3 cents to $61.67 a barrel on Tuesday, still close to its highest levels since January 2020. Brent crude settled up 13 cents, or 0.2%, to $65.37 a barrel.
The 10-year US Treasury note was down 1.4 basis point at 1.3551% in late U.S. trade. It touched a high of 1.389% early Tuesday before Powell’s testimony.
The two-year US Treasury yield, which typically moves in step with interest rate expectations, was little changed at 0.1169%.
(Reuters contributed to the story)
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