Sensex, Nifty likely to open flat
On Thursday, the Sensex had risen 163.37 points – or 0.40 percent – to end at 41,306.03 and the Nifty climbed 48.80 points to 12,137.95. Domestic stock markets are likely to start Friday’s session on a flat note amid weakness in Asian peers, after a four-day rally in which benchmark indices climbed 4 percent. The Singapore Exchange (SGX) Nifty futures – an early indicator of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) Nifty index in India – declined as much as 26.5 points to 12,103.00 ahead of the opening of Indian markets before turning flat. MCCI’s broadest index of Asia Pacific shares outside Japan was last seen trading 0.72 percent lower while Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 index was down 0.08 percent. On Thursday, the S&P BSE Sensex index had risen 163.37 points – or 0.40 percent – to end at 41,306.03 and the broader NSE Nifty benchmark climbed 48.80 points – or 0.40 percent – to 12,137.95. With that, the Sensex took its gains to 1,570.5 points – or 3.95 percent – and the Nifty added a total 476.1 points – or 4.08 percent – in four consecutive sessions.
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Japan stocks lower at close of trade; Nikkei 225 down 0.19pc
Japan stocks were lower after the close on Friday, as losses in the Paper & Pulp, Railway & Bus and Real Estate sectors led shares lower. At the close in Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 lost 0.19 percent. Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Tokyo Stock Exchange by 2337 to 1257 and 188 ended unchanged. The Nikkei Volatility, which measures the implied volatility of Nikkei 225 options, was unchanged 0.00 percent to 17.65. Crude oil for March delivery was up 0.12 percent or 0.06 to $51.01 a barrel. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Brent oil for delivery in April rose 0.18 percent or 0.10 to hit $55.03 a barrel, while the April Gold Futures contract fell 0.01 percent or 0.15 to trade at $1569.85 a troy ounce. USD/JPY was down 0.08 percent to 109.91, while EUR/JPY fell 0.13 percent to 120.61. The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.00 percent at 98.385.
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France stocks lower at close of trade; CAC 40 down 0.14pc
France stocks were lower after the close on Friday, as losses in the Foods & Drugs, Gas & Water and General Financial sectors led shares lower. At the close in Paris, the CAC 40 lost 0.14 percent, while the SBF 120 index fell 0.16 percent. Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Paris Stock Exchange by 335 to 230 and 89 ended unchanged. The CAC 40 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of CAC 40 options, was up 3.28 percent to 13.46. Gold Futures for April delivery was up 0.17 percent or 2.65 to $1572.65 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in March fell 1.00 percent or 0.51 to hit $50.44 a barrel, while the April Brent oil contract fell 0.69 percent or 0.38 to trade at $54.55 a barrel. EUR/USD was down 0.34 percent to 1.0943, while EUR/GBP fell 0.11 percent to 0.8482. The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.21 percent at 98.590.
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Global stocks fall as coronavirus fears grip investors
China’s central bank warned last night that its economy will be hit by the outbreak, and Japan reported a jump in the number of cases on board a cruise liner off of Tokyo. US markets opened lower despite a stronger-than-expected jobs report. The S&P 500 was 0.3 percent lower by 3.30pm, while the Dow Jones had slipped 0.6 percent. The FTSE 100 was 0.7 percent lower. France’s CAC 40 was down 0.4 percent and Germany’s Dax had dropped 0.7 percent. Coronavirus has now killed more than 630 people, while more than 31,000 have been infected, the vast majority in China.
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S&P 500 slips for first time this week as momentum stalls
Wall Street closed out the market’s best week in eight months Friday with a broad slide as technology and health care stocks gave back some of their recent gains. The pullback, which followed a sell-off in markets around the world, snapped a four-day winning streak for the major U.S. stock indexes. Even so, the benchmark S&P 500 notched its biggest weekly gain since June. The S&P 500 fell 18.07 points, or 0.5 percent, to 3,327.71. That trims its gain for the week to 3.2 percent, which is still its best performance since June. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 277.26 points, or 0.9 percent, to 29,102.51. The Nasdaq slid 51.64 points, or 0.5 percent, to 9,520.51. Smaller company stocks bore the brunt of the selling. The Russell 2000 index lost 20.68 points, or 1.2 percent, to 1,656.78. Stocks markets in Europe and Asia also closed lower. Uncertainty over the outbreak overshadowed the latest encouraging data point on the U.S. economy. A government report Friday showed that many more jobs were created in January than economists expected. Employers added 225,000 last month, comfortably above forecasts for 161,500 and December’s pace of 147,000.
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Selling pressure drags index further in red
There was no respite for the stock market as persistent selling pressure continued to drag the index lower, pushing it over 600 points down in intra-day trading on Friday. After a brief upward open, the KSE-100 maintained a steady decline south amid selling pressure in many index-heavy sectors. At close, the benchmark KSE-100 index recorded a decrease of 580.77 points, or 1.43 percent, to settle at 40,143.63. Overall, trading volumes decreased to 193.5 million shares compared with Thursday’s tally of 127.8 million. The value of shares traded during the day was Rs6.8 billion Shares of 355 companies were traded. At the end of the day, 47 stocks closed higher, 291 declined and 17 remained unchanged. Maple Leaf Cement was the volume leader with 21.5 million shares, losing Rs1.23 to close at Rs21.81. It was followed by Lotte Chemical with 17.4 million shares, losing Rs0.90 to close at Rs13.92 and Unity Foods with 14.4 million shares, losing Rs0.94 to close at Rs12.66.