Pre Session- D-Street to remain in Bear grip on global weakness
07/09/2015
Bears may continue to rule the roost at Dalal Street as a global sell-off amid uncertainty over the timing of a maiden US interest rate hike since 2006, keeps traders jittery, souring risk taking appetite. Stocks in Asia with the exception of China that were trading on a bullish note following a three-day holiday, succumbed to a sell-off tracking a bearish finish at Wall Street on Friday as mixed US jobs data which showed that American employers added fewer jobs in August even as the jobless rate slid to the lowest level since April 2008, offered little clarity over the timing of a Fed rate hike. Against the backdrop of a global gloom, coupled with weakness in the SGX CNX Nifty Index futures for September delivery which fell by 0.28 per cent or 21.5 points at 7,636.50 at 10:41 am Singapore time, Dalal Street is set to witness a gap down opening today. The Sensex on Friday sank by 562.88 points or by 2.18 per cent to end at 25,201.9, the lowest level in more than a year.
The 30-share Sensex, which slumped by 4.5 per cent last week, its biggest weekly loss since November 2011, as foreign investors withdrew more than Rs 4,000 crore from Indian equities, may remain volatile this week as investors across the globe stay cautious ahead of the upcoming Federal Reserve monetary policy meet on September 15-16, where the world’s top central bank may offer some cues over the timing of a maiden interest rate hike in nine years. The movement of the rupee against the dollar, overseas investment trend and global cues will continue to dictate stock market trend. On the domestic front, the July IIP data will also shape the direction of Dalal Street this week. A slowdown in industrial output growth may raise calls for an interest rate cut from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) at its next policy meet on September 29.
Most Asian stocks fell today as traders were unsure over the timing of a US interest rate hike as Friday’s jobs data signaled slight weakness in the health of the world’s biggest economy. Non-farm payrolls in the US, climbed by 173,000 in August, compared to an upwardly revised 245,000 gain in July, and below expectations of a 217,000 rise. However, the unemployment rate fell to 5.1 per cent in August 2015 from 5.3 per cent in July 2015. Shanghai Composite rose today as comments from the Chinese central bank governor over the weekend lifted sentiment. People’s Bank of China Governor Zhou Xiaochuan had predicted an end to the country’s stock turmoil in the near-term, and that state intervention prevented systemic risk and stopped a free-fall. Meanwhile, Hang Seng declined while Japan’s Nikkei 225 was hit by a stronger yen which curbed the lure for exporter stocks. On Friday, all three of the Dow Jones Industrial Average, Nasdaq Composite and S&P 500 shed more than 1 per cent after August jobs data disappointed.
