- India’s Nifty and Sensex opened flat on Wednesday after a positive close on Tuesday.
- On Tuesday, Nifty refreshed all-time high above 22,200, Sensex settled above 73,000.
- Nifty and Sensex look to the Fed and RBI Minutes for fresh trading impulse.
The Sensex 30 and Nifty 50, India’s key benchmark indices, see a subdued start to Wednesday, stalling Tuesday’s rebound.
Small losses in the Gift Nifty futures and rebounding Chinese stocks indicated a flattish open for the Indian indices.
At the time of writing, the National Stock Exchange (NSE) Nifty 50 is up 0.06% on the day at 22,215.55 while the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) Sensex 30 gains 0.12% so far to trade at 73,147.53.
Nifty and Sensex extended the bullish momentum on Tuesday, in the run-up to the release of the Minutes of the US Federal Reserve and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) policy meetings.
- India’s benchmark indices trade in the green for the seventh day in a row, as rise in shares of ICICI Bank, Hindalco Industries., and ITC.
- Among the corporate news, Foseco India, Rain Industries, and Sanofi India will announce their October to December quarter numbers.
- The US stock markets settled lower on Tuesday, as traders returned from the Presidents’ Day holiday on Monday.
- People’s Bank of China (PBoC) cut the five-year Loan Prime Rate (LPR) by a record 25 bps from 4.20% to 3.95%. The PBOC rate cut failed to excite traders on Tuesday.
- India’s trade data for January showed last week a shrinking Trade Deficit of $17.49 billion.
- US Consumer Price Index (CPI) and Producer Price Index (PPI) data came in hotter-than-expected and helped push back the market’s expectations of a Fed rate cut from March to June. Markets are currently pricing a 77% chance of a cut in June, the CME Group’s Fed Watch Tool shows.
- Attention now turns toward the Minutes of the Fed January meeting and American tech major Nvidia Earnings report due on Wednesday, as the Indian economic calendar remains devoid of any top-tier data release until Thursday’s RBI Minutes.
Nifty 50 FAQs
The Nifty 50, or simply Nifty, is the most commonly followed stock index in India. It was launched in 1996 by the National Stock Exchange of India (NSE). It plots the weighted average share price of 50 of the largest Indian corporations, offering investors comprehensive exposure to 13 sectors of the economy. Each corporation’s weighting is based on its “free-float capitalization”, or the value of all its shares readily available for trading.
The Nifty is a composite so its value is dependent on the performance of the companies that make up the index, as revealed in their quarterly and annual results. Another factor is government policies, such as when in 2016 the government decided to demonetize 500 and 1000 Rupee banknotes. This led to a temporary cash shortage which negatively impacted the Nifty. The level of interest rates set by the Reserve Bank of India is a further factor as it determines the cost of borrowing. Climate change, pandemics and natural disasters are also drivers.
The Nifty 50 was launched on April 22, 1996 at a base level of 1,000. Its highest recorded level to date is 22,097 achieved on January 15, 2024 (this is being written in Feb 2024). The index first closed above the 10,000 level on October 17, 2017. The Nifty recorded its biggest daily decline on March 23, 2020 during the Covid pandemic, when it fell 1,125 points or 12.37%. The Nifty’s biggest gain in a single day occurred on May 18, 2009, when it rose 651 points after the results of the Indian elections.
Major corporations in the Nifty 50 include HDFC Bank, Reliance Industries, ICICI Bank, Tata Consultancy Services, Larsen and Toubro, ITC Ltd, Housing Development Finance Corporation Ltd and Kotak Mahendra Bank.