:::LALKAR GROUP::::

Trading of Nifty 50 index futures on the Singapore stock exchange indicates that the Nifty could decline 17.50 points at opening today.

Global Markets:

The US Dow Jones index futures were down 41 points, indicating a positive opening in the US stocks today.

Asian shares were mixed on Thursday as Bank of Japan kicks off its two-day monetary policy meeting.

Japan's GDP grew slower at 0.1% on an annualized for the October-December quarter. The reading is weaker compared with preliminary estimates of a 0.6% growth, and also comes in lower than a 0.8% expansion. Private consumption, which accounts for around 57% of Japan's GDP, inched up by only 0.3%.

Meanwhile, China's consumer price index (CPI) for February was 1.0% higher than a year earlier, rising at the slowest pace since February 2022 and compared with the 2.1% annual rise seen in January, said the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

In the US, major stock indexes ended mixed as traders parsed stronger than expected economic data, sparking concerns of bigger rate increases following Fed Chairman Jerome Powell's congressional speech.

Stronger-than-expected private payrolls numbers for February reaffirmed the strength of the US economy. Private employment increased by 242,000 jobs last month, the ADP National Employment report showed on Wednesday. Data for January was revised higher to show 119,000 jobs added instead of 106,000 as previously reported.

Vacancies at US employers retreated at the start of the year but remained historically elevated. The number of available positions decreased to 10.8 million in January from an upwardly revised 11.2 million a month earlier, the Labor Department's Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey, or JOLTS, showed Wednesday.

Domestic Equity Market:

The key equity barometers ended with decent gains after a volatile session on Wednesday, rising for the third straight session. The barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex rose 123.63 points or 0.21% to 60,348.09. The Nifty 50 index added 42.95 points or 0.24% to 17,754.40. In three consecutive sessions, the Sensex gained 2.44% while the Nifty increased 2.5%.

Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) bought shares worth Rs 3,671.56 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) were net sellers to the tune of Rs 937.80 crore in the Indian equity market on 8 March 2023, provisional data showed.