SGX Nifty down 140 points: Asia selloff, dollar weakness, oil movement, FPI flows & more

Domestic stock indices look set for a gap-down opening on Friday amid negative global cues. Asian shares were trading deep in the red, tracking an overnight steep fall in US stocks. The Wall Street selloff was largely led by banking sector. Traders will be keenly looking at US unemployment data scheduled for later in the day. Here's what you should know before the opening bell:

Nifty outlook
On the daily charts, Nifty is facing a stiff resistance at 40-day moving average. The NSE barometer is facing selling pressure at 17,760-17,800 levels, said Jatin Gedia, Technical Research Analyst at Sharekhan.

"Nifty might be in the process of forming a Bullish flag pattern. The daily momentum indicator has a positive crossover and, hence, this dip should be bought into. The fall on Thursday might appear aggravated on account of the weekly expiry. We expect Nifty to bounce back. Overall, the range of consolidation is likely to be 17,500-17,925 from a short-term perspective," he said.

SGX Nifty signals a negative start
Nifty futures on the Singapore Exchange quoted 140 points, or 0.79 per cent, lower at 17,478, hinting at a negative start for the domestic market on Friday.

Asian shares opened sharply lower
Asian shares traded sharply lower on Friday, dragged by a sharp fall on Wall Street, thanks to concerns over the US banking sector. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was down 1.60 per cent. Japan's Nikkei plunged 1.20 per cent; Australia's ASX 200 tanked 1.82 per cent; New Zealand's DJ dropped 0.91 per cent; China's Shanghai shed 0.66 per cent; Hong Kong's Hang Seng tumbled 2.53 per cent. and Korea’s Kospi slumped 1.12 per cent.

Oil prices little changed
Oil prices were little changed on Friday as traders remained cautious about frequent and steeper rate hikes by the US Federal Reserve, concerns that have triggered a rout in energy prices over the last three days. Brent futures, which fell about 5 per cent over the last three days, were up marginally from near-three-week lows at $81.72 a barrel at 0113 GMT. US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude rose 2 cents, or 0.03 per cent, to $75.74, having slumped by nearly 6 per cent in the last three trading sessions.

Dollar loses steam post jobless claims data
The dollar paused its ascent on Friday after a rise in jobless claims in the United States implied possibly easing conditions in the labour market and tempered expectations of further aggressive rate hikes from the Federal Reserve. The US dollar index fell 0.12 per cent to 105.12 but remained on track for a weekly gain of nearly 0.6 per cent. The euro rose 0.13 per cent to $1.0595, while sterling edged 0.05 per cent higher to $1.1932. The yen held steady in early Asia trade, and was last 0.2 per cent higher at 135.89 per dollar.

Wall Street stocks settle sharply lower
Wall Street slid sharply on Thursday, pulled lower by bank stocks and jitters ahead of Friday's employment report, while Treasury yields dropped on signs that the Federal Reserve's restrictive policy is beginning to work as intended. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 543.54 points, or 1.66 per cent, to 32,254.86, the S&P 500 lost 73.69 points, or 1.85 per cent, at 3,918.32 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 237.65 points, or 2.05 per cent, to 11,338.36.

Stocks in F&O ban
Two stocks- Balrampur Chini Mills and Gujarat Narmada Valley Fertilizers & Chemicals (GNFC)-  have been put under F&O ban by National Stock Exchange (NSE) for Friday, March 10. Derivative contracts in a security are banned when it crosses 95 per cent of the market-wide position limit (MWPL). No new positions can be created in the derivative contracts of said security. This prohibition is lifted when the open interest in the stock drops below 80 per cent of the MWPL across exchanges.

FPIs sell shares worth Rs 562 crore
Provisional data available with NSE suggests FPIs turned net sellers of domestic stocks to the tune of Rs 561.78 crore on Friday. Similarly, domestic institutional investors (DIIs) turned buyers of equities to the tune of Rs 42.41 crore.

Rupee drops 11 paise against dollar
The rupee pared its initial gains to settle down by 11 paise at 82.06 against the US dollar on Thursday as the support from the weak dollar was negated by a sell-off in domestic equity markets. Besides, fresh dollar demand from banks and importers and renewed foreign fund outflows dented investor sentiments, forex traders said.

Note: With inputs from PTI, Reuters and other agencies

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