Sensex today – Live updates: Sensex and Nifty down before market open on fears of prolonged rise; Steel Strips and Metro Brand in sight

Sensex Today Live: Yes Bank CEO Prashant Kumar, in an interview with Moneycontrol, expressed no concerns about the State Bank of India (SBI), its largest shareholder, possibly selling its stake. He assured that any new shareholder replacing SBI would need the approval of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), which ensures thorough due diligence.

As of April 21, SBI held a 25% stake in Yes Bank, followed by CA Basque Investments with 9.1% and Verventa Holdings with 5.3%. Kumar stressed that the potential stake sale should not be a cause for concern as any new investor acquiring a 25% stake would undergo proper due diligence by the RBI.

Kumar also highlighted the regulatory requirement that prohibits a bank from remaining invested in another bank. He said once Yes Bank stabilises, it will be crucial for SBI to be replaced by a strategic investor.

Sensex Live Today: The Indian equity market, including Sensex and Nifty 50, is expected to open lower on Friday amid weak global trends. The Gift Nifty trading around the 22,950 mark, nearly 50 points lower than the previous close of Nifty futures, further points to a negative start for the Indian benchmark index.

Despite an expected lower opening, domestic equity indices closed at a record high on Thursday. The Sensex rose 1,196.98 points or 1.61% to close at 22,967.65, while the Nifty 50 gained 369.85 points or 1.64% to close at 75,418.04.

The Nifty 50 formed a long bullish candlestick pattern on the daily charts, indicating strong buying interest. Subash Gangadharan, senior technical/derivative analyst at HDFC Securities, noted that the 20-period moving average (MA) remains above the 50-period MA, suggesting that the positive MA crossover is intact. This suggests that the short-term uptrend is continuing. He added that the Nifty continues to trade above the 20- and 50-day SMA (Simple Moving Average), a positive signal. The 14-day Relative Strength Index (RSI) at 68.23 is rising and is not overbought, which is encouraging. (Read the full story here.)

Sensex Live Today: Indian stock market braces for a possible decline in opening trade on Friday. Sensex and Nifty 50 are expected to open lower on weak cues from global markets. Asian markets are trading lower and US stock market closed in the red as inflation concerns persist, which may delay rate cuts by the Federal Reserve.

Despite the expected decline, the market closed at a record high on Thursday, witnessing a broad wave of buying. The Sensex rose 1,196.98 points or 1.61% to close at 22,967.65, while the Nifty 50 gained 369.85 points or 1.64% to close at 75,418.04.

Siddhartha Khemka, head of retail research at Motilal Oswal Financial Services Ltd, remains optimistic. He expects the positive momentum to continue, driven by an improving policy environment, continued short covering by foreign institutional investors (FIIs) and robust domestic macro. He also highlighted that sectors like defence, banking and railways are likely to remain in focus. (Read the full story here.)

Sensex Today Live: Indian stocks were set for a subdued start on Friday after hitting record highs in the previous session as robust economic data from the US dampened hopes of an early rate cut.

The Gift Nifty was trading at 22,975 at 7:58 am IST, suggesting that the Nifty 50 will open near Thursday's close of 22,967.65.

Indian interest rates closed at an all-time high on Thursday, recording their best session since March 1, as the central bank's record dividend to the government boosted financial stocks.

Asian stocks fell on Friday while the dollar rose as strong U.S. economic data boosted the prospect of higher interest rates for longer and the U.S. Federal Reserve took its time cutting interest rates, keeping investors away from risky assets.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan fell 0.5 percent and was heading for a weekly decline of 1 percent, ending a four-week winning streak. Japan's Nikkei lost 1.45 percent.

Chinese stocks were almost unchanged in early trading. Blue chips were down 0.05 percent after the Chinese military began the second day of its war games around Taiwan on Friday. The Hang Seng Index in Hong Kong was down 0.33 percent.

Data on Thursday showed a decline in U.S. unemployment, while S&P Global's flash PMI survey showed business activity grew faster in May than economists had forecast.

Robust economic data and the positive minutes of the Fed's latest meeting earlier this week have prompted traders to scale back their bets on rate cuts this year, with markets now pricing in just 35 basis points of easing in 2024, down from expectations of a 150 basis point cut at the start of the year.

As the CME FedWatch tool shows, markets are already fully pricing in a rate cut in December, with a cut in September now just a matter of chance.

“This week's data reaffirms that the Fed simply does not have the capacity to deliver monetary policy accommodation,” said Prashant Newnaha, senior Asia-Pacific interest rate strategist at TD Securities.

“The market and the Fed simply have to wait until there are cracks in the labor market before they can start easing measures. But right now there is little sign that this is the case.”

Raphael Bostic, president of the Fed in Atlanta, said the US central bank may have to wait even longer before cutting interest rates because there is continued upward pressure on prices even with the slightly lower inflation figures in April.

The change in expectations regarding US interest rates has caused yields to rise. The yield on the 10-year US benchmark reached a more than one-week high of 4.498 percent on Thursday. It was last at 4.463 percent in the early hours of Asian trading on Friday.

The dollar also benefited: The dollar index, which measures the US currency against a basket of six major currencies, rose by almost 0.6 percent to 105.06 over the course of the week, putting it on track for its strongest weekly increase since mid-April. [FRX/]

The dollar's rise has kept pressure on the yen. The Japanese currency was last trading at 157.03 to the dollar, not far from its three-week low of 157.19 reached on Thursday.

Government data on Friday showed that core inflation in Japan slowed for the second month in a row in April due to milder food inflation, but remained comfortably above the central bank's 2 percent target.

Bank of Japan Governor Kazuo Ueda said on Thursday that the economy was on track for a moderate recovery. He said a collapse in gross domestic product in the first quarter alone would not stop the central bank from raising interest rates in the coming months.

“We expect the Bank of Japan to keep its stance unchanged at its June meeting as it seeks to confirm the turnaround in economic growth, particularly in private spending and wage growth, that could occur in July,” said ING economists.

The pound remained subdued at $1.2694 on Friday, after hitting a two-month high of $1.2761 on Wednesday, as traders pondered the outlook for interest rates following data this week showing that inflation did not ease as much as expected in April.

The start of the election campaign by British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and his Labour rival Keir Starmer caused a stir on Thursday, but analysts said the poll was unlikely to have a major impact on markets.

In terms of raw materials, oil prices remained stable, with Brent crude at $81.39 per barrel. Futures for US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude were at $76.87.

Gold prices rose 0.24 percent to $2,334.16 an ounce, but are expected to fall 3.3 percent for the week since the end of September.