LIVE market updates: The benchmark indices are expected to extend their muted performance on the last day of the year given tepid global market cues.
As of 07:40 AM, the SGX Nifty January futures were quoted at 17,306, indicating a likely opening gain of 40-odd points for the NSE Nifty.
Among individual shares, textile stocks are likely to be in focus as the GST Council is scheduled to meet today to discuss possible roll-back of the hike in GST rates for the sector.
IndiGo too may be eyed after its shareholders voted strongly in favour of scrapping a clause in the articles of association (AoA) that gives the airline’s two promoters a right of first refusal (RoFR) over the acquisition of each other’s shares.
IDFC First Bank may be looked out for as it has approved a proposal for merger of ‘IDFC Ltd’ and ‘IDFC Financial Holding Company (Promoter Group) with itself.
New listing
CMS Info Systems will make its debut on the bourses. The IPO was subscribed 1.95 times, hence the stock may see a tepid listing.
Global cues
In the US, Dow Jones and the S&P 500 indexes hit record highs in intraday trades as a dip in weekly jobless allayed fears over the economic damage from the Omicron variant. The key benchmark indices eventually ended marginally in red. Dow, S&P 500 and Nasdaq were around 0.2-0.3 per cent each.
Oil prices rose edged slightly higher in trades on Thursday with focus now shifting on the OPEC+ meeting on January 04. Brent Crude added 0.1 per cent to $79.32 a barrel, and WTI Crude was up 0.6 per cent to $76.90 a barrel.
Most of the Asian markets were closed for trading owing to the New Year’s eve holiday. Among those open, Hang Seng had surged 1.9 per cent. Shanghai Composite was up 0.4 per cent and Straits Times had added 0.3 per cent.
