Indian equities head into Friday’s 9 am open under pressure. Crude is climbing, a tech sell-off has spread from Wall Street to Asia, and domestic losses are stretching into a third straight session.
India: The Sensex fell about 450-460 points on Thursday and the Nifty50 closed below 22,700. Rising crude, weak Asian markets and sectoral selling did the damage. Reuters said Indian shares fell for a third straight session as the Middle East war pushed oil to $112 a barrel, stoking inflation worries. Breadth was weak, with about 2,800 stocks declining against 1,375 advancing. Media, FMCG and IT stocks dragged. The market has been volatile: a week ago the Sensex gained 1,500 points when oil was near $104.67.
US: Tech took the hit on Thursday. The Nasdaq was thrashed while the Dow held up better. Renewed AI-spending fears and the oil spike drove the sell-off, with Meta and Moderna among the leaders lower. Tesla slid despite an earnings beat. Bonds rallied as investors sought safety, and Bloomberg flagged the worst day for US stocks since July. AI stocks fell sharply worldwide, while non-AI stocks held up well. US futures are little changed this morning.
Asia and China: Bloomberg expects Asian stocks to slide as investors rotate out of the tech giants that led this year’s rally. SK Hynix fell 2.8% in Seoul. Taiwan’s roughly $5 trillion market is shut today as Typhoon Champi approaches. China’s 20% stock market correction has revived the debate on whether cheaper prices mean better value.
Stocks and themes to watch:
- Tata Teleservices, KEI Industries, IGIL: sharp volume spikes. Tata Teleservices traded 7.44 crore shares, about 82 times its average of 9.08 lakh.
- Jio IPO: investors are weighing the lot size, grey market premium and expected listing price against Reliance shares.
- Margin Trading Facility: retail investors are shifting from derivatives to broker-funded leveraged stock positions as taxes rise.
- PSU banks: a Nagaland University study finds fraud disclosures trigger sharper stock losses for public sector banks.
What decides the day: Crude and the Middle East conflict, the global tech sell-off, and bond moves. Whether IT stocks stabilise will set the tone for the broader market.
