SGX Nifty hints at gap-up start for Sensex, Nifty; key things to know before market opens

Investors will closely watch rising COVID-19 cases, as India added another 4.12 lakh fresh cases in the last 24 hours. Image: Reuters

Nifty futures on Singaporean Exchange were trading 34 points or 0.23 per cent up at 14,724.50 on Singaporean Exchange, indicating a positive start for BSE Sensex and Nifty 50 on Thursday. S&P BSE Sensex sits at 48,677.55, while NSE’s Nifty index closed at 14,617. Asian stock markets were seen trading higher in early trade on Thursday. Investors will closely watch rising COVID-19 cases, as India added another 4.12 lakh fresh cases in the last 24 hours. Also, market participants will track Jan-Mar quarter results, stock-specific developments, oil prices, rupee movement and other global cues on the day of weekly options expiry.

Also read: Tata Consumer, IDBI Bank, Maruti Suzuki, Adani Power, Indian Bank, Hero MotoCorp stocks in focus

Global markets: Asian stock markets were trading higher on Thursday. Investors of the Japanese stock market returned to trade for first time this week after a three-day holiday. Japan’s Nikkei jumped nearly 2 per cent while the Topix index was up 1.97 per cent. South Korea’s Kospi rose 0.7 per cent. While Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index was up 1.15 per cent. In overnight trade, Wall Street’s main indexes and the Dow hit a record high on Wednesday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.46 per cent, the S&P 500 was up 0.54 per cent, and the Nasdaq Composite was up 0.63 per cent.

Nifty support, resistance levels: The narrow range activity continues but index recovered sharply from 14500/48250 support level. “The Nifty has formed inside the body candle formation near the 20 day SMA and index once again managed to close above the 20 day SMA level,  which is broadly positive for the market. We are of the view that, in the short run 14500/ 48250 should be the sacrosanct support area for the positional traders, above the same we can expect the continuation of uptrend up to 14750/49200 further upside may also continue which could lift the index up to 14820/49850. On the flip side, trading below 14500/ 48250 could possibly open one more correction wave up to 14450, 14410/ 48000-47750,” said Shrikant Chouhan, Executive Vice President (Equity Technical Research), Kotak Securities.

Q4 results: As many as 25 BSE-listed firms including Adani Power, Adani Transmission, Coforge, Hero MotoCorp, Procter & Gamble Health Ltd, Praj Industries, Raymond Ltd, Solara Active Pharma Sciences Ltd and Tata Consumer Products are scheduled to announce their January-March quarter results on May 6.

FIIs, DIIs data: On Wednesday, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) offloaded shares worth Rs 1,110.50 crore. Domestic institutional investors (DIIs) also sold shares worth Rs 240.61 crore on a net basis in the Indian equity market.