BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty are likely to open with a negative bias on Wednesday, tracking mixed global cues. While the US stocks ended lower, markets across Asia-Pacific region showed mixed trends in early trade.
“Though strong FII buying and upbeat domestic economic readings had been aiding the rally over the past few weeks, global uncertainty over interest rate movement and slackening demand would prompt investors to book profit at regular intervals,” Shrikant Chouhan, Head of Equity Research (Retail), Kotak Securities Ltd, said.
While the Nifty futures closed at 18,328 on Tuesday, SGX Nifty at 18290 signals a moderately weak opening for domestic benchmarks.
According to Edward Moya, Senior Market Analyst, the Americas OANDA, the US stocks are declining after Home Depot gave a downbeat outlook and Speaker McCarthy said that the debt ceiling negotiations have showed no progress.
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“Wall Street is bracing for something bad to happen, but no one has any idea on what will be that catalyst. It could be a debt ceiling impasse, persistent banking fears, or a much weaker consumer as sticky inflation becomes more noticeable,” he added.
However, the continuous buying by foreign portfolio investors is likely to keep market in a range, said analysts.
Besides, results have been on expected lines so far, except for a few sectors.
Mitul Shah, Head of Research at Reliance Securities, said, “While IT and commodity companies have faced headwinds, companies in financials and automobile sectors have delivered decent earnings. The overall damp Q4 FY23 earnings by India Inc may be an indication of strong global headwinds, affecting future growth projections.”
However, lower inflation provides room for RBI to continue with its pause mode. “The decline in WPI bodes well for the CPI in future months as lower raw material prices are passed through by the producers to the consumers, resulting in revival of demand,” he added.