Stock Market LIVE Updates, Monday, October 28, 2024: Indian benchmark equity indices BSE Sensex and Nifty 50 were trading higher than their opening levels on Monday.
At 11 AM, the BSE Sensex was up 757 points, or 0.95 per cent, at 80,159, while the Nifty 50 was at 24,375, up 194 points, or 0.8 per cent.
On the BSE Sensex, 11 out of the 30 stocks were trading in the red, with loses capped by JSW Steel (down 1.59 per cent), followed by Larsen & Toubro, IndusInd Bank, Power Grid Corp., and Tech Mahindra. On the flip side, gains were being led by ICICI Bank (up 2.54 per cent), followed by SBI, Infosys, Bajaj Finserv, and Sun Pharma.
On the Nifty 50, 30 out of the 50 stocks were trading in the green, with gains led by Shriram Finance (up 4.71 per cent), followed by ICICI Bank, BEL, BPCL, and Dr Reddy's, while loses were capped by JSW Steel (down 1.85 per cent), followed by ONGC, Coal India, Kotak Mahindra Bank, and SBI Life.
Across sectors, the PSU Bank index was the top gainer, climbing around 1.8 per cent, while the Bank and Financial Services indices also climbed around 1 per cent.
The Auto, IT, Metal, Pharma, Health, Oil and Consumer Durables indices were also trading in the green, while the FMCG index was down 0.41 per cent.
In the broader markets, the Nifty Midcap 100 was up 0.58 per cent and the Nifty Smallcap 100 was up 0.56 per cent.
On Friday, Indian stock markets extended their bear run into the fifth straight session as foreign investors' selling spree, underwhelming September quarter results, and valuation concerns hit sentiment.
The benchmark indices were down for the fourth straight week, their longest weekly losing spell since August 2023.
The Nifty50 and the Sensex indices have shed more than 7 per cent during this period.
Meanwhile, the Sensex tumbled 662.87 points, or 0.83 per cent on Friday, to end the session at 79,402.29. The Nifty50, on the other hand, closed below the crucial level of 24,200 at 24,180.80, down 218.63 points or 0.9 per cent.
In the broader markets, the BSE MidCap index dropped 1.48 per cent and the BSE SmallCap decllined 2.4 per cent during the trading session. In the past week, the mid- and small-cap indices have declined close to 9 per cent and are approaching the 'correction' zone.
Across sectors, the Nifty Auto, Media, Metal, and PSU Bank indices slipped 2 per cent each on Friday. Defensive bets like Nifty Pharma and FMCG indices, on the flipside, gained up to 0.88 per cent.
Investors in India will also keep an eye out for infrastructure output data set to be released on Wednesday and manufacturing PMI on Friday, apart from numerous companies reporting their September quarter resutls.
Apart from that, markets in the Asia Pacific region were mostly higher on Monday morning.
Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 and its Topix index climbed after the country’s Liberal Democratic Party lost its majority in Japan’s lower house following elections on Sunday.
The LDP and its coalition partner Komeito have secured 215 out of 465 seats, public broadcaster NHK reported early Monday morning local time. The opposition Constitutional Democratic Party and the Democratic Party for the People also made significant gains in this election.
The Nikkei was up 1.4 per cent, leading gains in Asia while the Topix was up 1.18 per cent.
South Korea’s Kospi climbed 0.59 per cent, while the small cap Kosdaq was 1.02 per cent higher.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.15 per cent.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index was up 0.13 per cent, while mainland China’s CSI 300 was up 0.11 per cent and the Shanghai Composite was up 0.17 per cent.
However, global stocks had slipped on Friday, finishing the week lower amid US election jitters.
Republican former President Donald Trump and Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris are polling neck-and-neck in crucial swing states ahead of the November 5 election. Investors are anxious about a contested result roiling world markets and unleashing fresh geopolitical uncertainty.
The benchmark S&P 500 ended slightly lower and closed the week down nearly 1 per cent, driven by losses in utilities and financials as well as gains in technology and communication-services stocks. Nasdaq finished the week higher.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.61 per cent to 42,114.40, the S&P 500 eased 0.03 per cent to 5,808.12 and the Nasdaq Composite rose 0.56 per cent to 18,518.61.
The European shares index ended down 0.03 per cent after giving up gains in choppy trading and finished 1.2 per cent lower for the week.
Overnight in Asia, MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan closed lower by 0.02 per cent but dropped nearly 2 per cent for the week.
Brent crude futures were down 4.27 per cent, or $3.25, at $72.80 a barrel. Similarly, US West Texas Intermediate crude was down 4.43 per cent, or $3.18 to $68.60. Both crude futures had finished the last week higher by about 4 per cent each.
US Treasury yields edged higher as investors awaited key employment data this week for fresh clues on the likely path of Federal Reserve interest-rate cuts.
Traders are pricing in near-95 per cent odds of a 25-basis-point cut at the Fed's November meeting, according to the CME Group's FedWatch Tool.
The yield on benchmark US 10-year notes rose 3.8 basis points to 4.24 per cent.
The dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of currencies including the yen and the euro,rose 0.24 per cent to 104.30.
Gold prices rose in choppy trading after retreating from record highs. Spot gold rose 0.28 per cent to $2,743.31 an ounce. US gold futures settled 0.2 per cent higher at $2,754.60. Prices had hit an all-time high of $2,758.37 on Wednesday. (With inputs from Reuters.)
 "Stock Market LIVE Updates: Sensex gains 850 pts, at 80,250; Nifty at 24,400; PSU Bank index up 3%")
