Stock Market LIVE Updates: Indian equuity benchmark indices were likely headed for a positive start as indicated by GIFT Nifty futures that were trading at 25,360, ahead by around 100 points compared to Nifty futures last close, at 7:00 AM.
However, MSCI’s global equities gauge fell for a third day in a row and oil prices lost ground on Wednesday, while safe-haven assets such as US Treasuries and Japan’s yen were in demand as a mixed batch of economic data fueled concerns about slowing growth.
Crude oil futures settled down more than 1 per cent in their third straight day of declines, including a more than 4 per cent loss on Tuesday, due to fears about demand for coming months.
In US Treasuries, yields were lower and earlier in the day, the closely watched yield curve between two-year and 10-year notes turned positive after data showed that US job openings fell to a three and a half year low in July.
On Tuesday, Wall Street stock indexes had registered their biggest daily percentage drops since early August as investors took profits while weak US manufacturing data did little to boost risk appetites.
On Wednesday, the S&P 500 ended lower after spending the morning flitting between red and green as investors waited anxiously for more economic data. Thursday will bring a reading on the US services industry, along with jobless claims data.
Elsewhere, markets in the Asia-Pacific region mostly rebounded on Thursday from the sell-off on Wednesday, except for the markets in Japan.
The Nikkei 225 and Topix fell 0.92 per cent and 0.49 per cent, respectively, on open, shortly after the release of Japan’s July wage data that showed average monthly cash earnings in the country rising 3.6 per cent year-on-year, a softer rise compared to the 4.5 per cent climb seen in June.
Real wages climbed 0.4 per cent year-on-year, the second straight month of growth after the 1.1 per cent rise in June. A strong pay report would give the Bank of Japan more room for a rate hike, which could put pressure on equities.
Other economic data coming from the region include trade data from Australia and retail sales numbers from Singapore.
Then Friday’s hotly anticipated August report for nonfarm payrolls is expected to provide the clearest clues as to the health of the US economy and whether the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates this month by a quarter or a half of a percentage point.
Also on Wednesday, Atlanta Federal Reserve President Raphael Bostic said the U S central bank must not keep interest rates too high much longer or it risks harming employment too much.
On Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 38.04 points, or 0.09 per cent, to 40,974.97, the S&P 500 lost 8.86 points, or 0.16 per cent, to 5,520.07 and the Nasdaq Composite lost 52.00 points, or 0.30 per cent, to 17,084.30.
MSCI’s gauge of stocks across the globe fell 4.40 points, or 0.54 per cent, to 815.07. Earlier Europe’s STOXX 600 index fell had closed down 0.97 per cent.
In Treasuries, the yield on benchmark US 10-year notes fell 8.9 basis points to 3.755 per cent, from 3.844 per cent late on Tuesday while the 2-year note yield, which typically moves in step with interest rate expectations, fell 12.8 basis points to 3.76 per cent.
Crude oil prices fell on pessimism about demand in the coming months as crude producers offered mixed signals about supply increases.
US crude settled down 1.6 per cent at $69.20 a barrel while Brent ended 1.4 per cent lower at $72.70 per barrel.
Gold prices reversed course to gain ground with help from a softer dollar and lower yields after the weak data on US job openings. Spot gold inched up 0.07 per cent to $2,494.43 an ounce.
