Sensex, Nifty Likely To Open Strong
The domestic stock markets are likely to open in the green, building on the record closing highs registered in the previous session, following favourable global cues. The Dow Jones closed at record highs overnight and the Asian markets also made early gains on Wednesday. Trends on SGX Nifty indicate a positive opening for the index in India, with a 63-points gain. At 7:30 am, the Nifty futures were trading at 13,146, higher by 63 points or 0.6 per cent on the Singapore Stock Exchange.
The Dow Jones benchmark cracked the 30,000 mark for the first time overnight as investors cheered a dramatically improved global outlook, a prospective 2021 economic recovery on coronavirus vaccine progress and the formal clearance for President-elect Joe Biden's transition to the White House.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.54 per cent, the S&P 500 gained 1.62 per cent and Nasdaq Composite added 1.31 per cent.
Australia's S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.77 per cent and Japan's Nikkei 225 gained 1.16 per cent in early trading. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index futures rose 0.24 per cent. E-mini futures for the S&P 500 rose 0.17 per cent and MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 0.36 per cent.
Meanwhile, U.S. oil edged lower on Wednesday, after an industry report showed crude stockpiles in the United States rose against expectations, tempering a rally driven by news that another vaccine against COVID-19 had proved effective in trials.
West Texas Intermediate crude was down 14 cents, or 0.3 per cent, at $44.77 a barrel by 0035 GMT, after rising more than 4 per cent on Tuesday. Brent crude was yet to trade, having risen almost 4 per cent in the previous session.
Domestic stock markets had closed at record highs on Tuesday, with the benchmark Nifty 50 index taking out the 13,000 level for the very first time, as signs of progress on a coronavirus vaccine spurred hopes of a faster economic recovery. The BSE Sensex had surged 445.87 points or 1.01 per cent to 44,523.02 and Nifty50 had climbed 128.70 points or 1 per cent to 13,055.20.
