Stock Market Today: Nifty and Sensex set for a higher open on Thursday

• India’s Nifty and Sensex eye a flattish to a positive start on Thursday.
• Nifty and Sensex lost over 1% on Wednesday, undermined by steep losses in the auto sector stocks.
• Traders brace for US PCE inflation, India’s Q3 GDP data and derivatives expiry on Thursday.

The Sensex 30 and Nifty 50, India’s key benchmark indices, are set to open higher on Thursday, as Gift Nifty futures and Chinese stocks rebound.

Nifty and Sensex ended Wednesday with sizeable losses due to risk-averse global markets and a bout of profit-taking in the lead-up to key top-tier events from the US and India.

Indian traders continue to remain on edge ahead of India’s third-quarter Gross Domestic Product (GDP) data and the expiry of monthly derivatives contracts due later this week.

The National Stock Exchange (NSE) Nifty 50 and the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) Sensex 30 lost about 1.10% on the day to settle at 21,951.15 and 72,304.88 respectively.

Stock market news

• The top gainers on Nifty on Wednesday included Infosys, TCS, Bharti Airtel and Hindustan Unilever. Meanwhile, the main laggards were Apollo Hospital, Eicher Motors, Bajaj Auto, Powergrid and Maruti.
• Shares of Vodafone Idea tumbled roughly 14% on Wednesday after the company's board decided to raise around Rs 45,000 crore through a combination of equity and debt for rolling out the 4G network.
• Patanjali Foods shares tanked 5% after the Supreme Court issued a contempt notice to Patanjali Ayurved’s Baba Ramdev and Acharya Balakrishna for publishing advertisements of products in violation of the Drugs and Magic Remedies (Objectionable Advertisements) Act, 1954.
• Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth INR1,509.16 crore on Tuesday, according to exchange data.
• The third term of the Narendra Modi government will see transformative reforms in sectors such as digital infrastructure, space, artificial intelligence, specialized warehousing, agriculture and tourism, India’s Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Tuesday.
• The US stock markets settled lower on Wednesday, in anticipation of the key US PCE inflation data on Thursday. Meanwhile, US GDP was revised to an annual rate of 3.2% in the fourth quarter of 2023, from an initial estimate of 3.3% released last month.
•  On Tuesday, US Durable Goods Orders slumped by 6.1% in January while the CB Consumer Confidence index dipped to 106.7 in February. Both figures missed the market expectations.
• Markets are currently pricing in just about a 20% chance that the US Federal Reserve (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 60%, down from 70% seen a week ago.
• All eyes now remain on and India’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) data due and the derivatives expiry, which is likely to infuse some volatility on Thursday.