Stock Market Today: Nifty and Sensex eye a negative start to the new week

• India’s Nifty and Sensex look to open lower after settling on a subdued note on  Friday.
• Nifty and Sensex clinched weekly gains but public sector stocks were a drag on Friday.
• All eyes now remain on US PCE inflation data and India’s Q3 GDP due later this week.

The Sensex 30 and Nifty 50, India’s key benchmark indices, are set to open the week on Monday on a cautious footing, taking the lead from mixed trading in Asian stock markets. Risk sentiment remains in a weak spot so far, as markets weigh renewed tensions between China and Taiwan.

Additionally, Gift Nifty futures are losing 0.21% on the day, indicating a negative open for the domestic indices, the Nifty and the Sensex.

Last week, Nifty and Sensex traders weighed mixed Indian and US preliminary business PMI data and a hawkish Minutes of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) February meeting.

The National Stock Exchange (NSE) Nifty 50 and the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) Sensex 30 ended 0.02% lower on the day at 22,212.70 and 73,142.80 respectively.

Stock market news

• On Friday, top gainers on Nifty were SBI Life Insurance, LTMindtree, Bajaj Finserv, HDFC Life Insurance and Dr Reddys. Meanwhile, the top losers were Maruti, BPCL, ONGC, Asian Paints and HCL Tech.
• Data published by HSBC Bank showed on Thursday that India’s Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ (PMI) Index dropped from 56.9 in January to 56.7 in February. Meanwhile, the Services PMI rose to 62.0 in the same period vs. 61.8 previous. The Composite PMI stood at 61.5, as against the previous reading of 61.2.
• In the RBI Minutes, Governor Shaktikanta Das stated that ‘’at this juncture, monetary policy must remain vigilant and not assume that our job on the inflation front is over. We must remain committed to successfully navigating the ‘last mile’ of disinflation which can be sticky.”
• S&P Global Manufacturing PMI improved to 51.5 from 50.7 in February, while S&P Global Services PMI edged lower to 51.3 from 52.5.
• Speeches from Federal Reserve (Fed) policymakers continue to push back against expectations of early interest rate cuts.
• Jefferies expects the Indian stock market to hit $10 trillion by 2030.
• Among the corporate news, Shares of Vodafone Idea in focus, advanced nearly 9%.
• Bharti Airtel introduced in-flight roaming plans for customers that will allow them to stay connected while on board a flight. 
• SpiceJet raised ₹316 crore, bringing the total funds raised to ₹1,060.
• The US stock markets rallied hard on Thursday, riding the AI optimism wave. US stock futures are trading 0.05% higher so far, at the press time.
• Nvidia released Q4 earnings after the close on Wednesday. Nvidia posted $5.16 earnings per share (EPS) vs. $4.64 expected while revenue stood at $22.10 billion vs. $20.62 billion expected. The AI pioneer said that it expected $24.0 billion in sales in the current quarter.
• The Fed Minutes stated on Wednesday, “most participants noted the risks of moving too quickly to ease the stance of policy and emphasized the importance of carefully assessing incoming data in judging whether inflation is moving down sustainably to 2 percent.” 
• Markets are currently pricing in just about a 20% chance that the Fed could begin easing rates in May, much lower than an over 90% chance a month ago, according to the CME FedWatch Tool. For the June meeting, the probability for a rate cut now stands at about 70%, down from 77% seen a few days ago.
• People’s Bank of China (PBoC) cut the five-year Loan Prime Rate (LPR) by a record 25 bps from 4.20% to 3.95%. The PBOC rate cut failed to excite traders on Tuesday.
• Attention now turns toward the US PCE inflation data and India’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) data due later this week.