Benchmark indices fell on Thursday, giving up the gains of the previous day.
The Nifty was down 194.05 points, or 0.90%, at 21,259.90, and the Sensex was down 688.01 points, or 0.97%, at 70,372.30, at 11 a.m.
Following the announcement of additional economic stimulus measures by policy makers, China-related stocks are set to continue their two-day surge. US tech stocks increased before the highly anticipated earnings announcements.
Following the People’s Bank of China’s announcement on Wednesday that it would lower the reserve requirement ratio for banks and make further indications, futures for benchmarks in Hong Kong and China indicated gains while a measure of Chinese companies listed in the US increased by about 2%. In Japan, shares were stable while in South Korea, they declined.
Following a fifth day of gains for the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100, futures for US stocks remained stable.
Wednesday saw a rise in MSCI’s global equity index, which reached its highest point in over two years thanks to encouraging economic and profit news from the US and Europe as well as hopes that China’s stimulus programme may help its stock markets. The MSCI World Equity Index, which monitors stocks across 47 nations, was up 0.42% following an intraday high it had reached not seen since February 2022.
Later on Thursday, the European Central Bank will come into focus. Although it is anticipated that policymakers will hold off on raising rates this week, all eyes will be on any hints as to what comes next.
According to Bloomberg Intelligence, uro-area statistics released on Wednesday revealed that private-sector output shrank once further in January, suggesting that the ECB may postpone rate reduction until June.
As they speculate about when the Federal Reserve may lower interest rates, investors in the US will be analysing a plethora of US economic data, including the GDP, which is scheduled for release on Thursday.
According to US data released on Wednesday, January had the most expansion in economic activity in seven months.
That’s encouraging for stocks, says Neil Dutta of Renaissance Macro.
In other news, China’s promises for further stimulus and a sharp decline in US crude stocks caused oil prices to rise to trade close to a one-month high.