SGX Nifty down 30 points: Asian markets, crude oil prices, dollar movement, Nifty outlook & more

Domestic stock indices are likely to open lower on Thursday amid muted global cues. US stocks settled mixed overnight after the US Federal Reserve kept the interest rates unchanged at its policy meet, but hinted at rate hikes ahead. Asian markets could not offer directional cues. Here's what you should know before the Opening Bell:

Nifty outlook
For Nifty, the 18,700 level will act as support due to strong put writing in the last two trading sessions. The resistance level has shifted to 18,900. The price action near the all-time high will provide important cues about Nifty’s future direction, said Ashwin Ramani, Derivatives & Technical Analyst, SAMCO Securities.

"The open interest (OI) data for futures indicated build-up of fresh long positions. On the derivatives front, the foreign portfolio investors’ long-short ratio crossed 50 per cent, indicating that the FPI’s now hold more long positions relative to short positions, he said.

SGX Nifty signals a negative start
Nifty futures on the Singapore Exchange traded 29.50 points, or 0.16 per cent, lower at 18,805.50, hinting at a negative start for the domestic market on Thursday.

Asian stocks mixed
Asian stocks braked around two-month highs on Thursday, while the dollar nursed modest losses, after the US Federal Reserve chose not to hike interest rates for the first time in 17 months, even if it opened the door to more hikes ahead. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was down 0.07 per cent. Japan's Nikkei gained 0.19 per cent; Australia's ASX 200 added 0.14 per cent; New Zealand's DJ jumped 0.40 per cent; China's Shanghai rose 0.02 per cent; Hong Kong's Hang Seng advanced 0.75 per cent and South Korea's Kospi tanked 0.57 per cent.

Oil prices edge higher
Oil prices edged higher on Thursday, recovering some ground from the previous day's plunge on worries about future US interest rate hikes, with markets now looking to key Chinese economic data for demand indications. Brent crude futures climbed 21 cents, or 0.3 per cent, to $73.41 a barrel by 0009 GMT. US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude was at $68.50 a barrel, up 23 cents, or 0.4 per cent.

Dollar weakens after Fed outcome
The dollar nursed modest losses, after the US Federal Reserve chose not to hike interest rates. China's yuan hit a six-month low of 7.1783 per dollar. The Aussie dollar was broadly steady at $0.6786, while the New Zealand dollar was down 0.7 per cent at $0.6163. The yen slipped about 0.5 per cent to 140.74 per dollar.

Wall Street stocks settle mixed
US stocks ended mixed on Wednesday after the Federal Reserve kept US interest rates unchanged but signaled in new economic projections that borrowing costs will likely rise by another half of a percentage point by the end of this year. The S&P 500 climbed 0.08 per cent to end the session at 4,372.59 points. The Nasdaq gained 0.39 per cent to 13,626.48 points, while Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 0.68 per cent to 33,979.33 points.

Stocks in F&O ban
Seven stocks- ZEE Entertainment Enterprises (ZEEL), Bharat Heavy Electricals (BHEL), Manappuram Finance, Delta Corp, Indiabulls Housing Finance, India Cements and Indian Energy Exchange (IEX) - has been put under the ban by National Stock Exchange (NSE) for Wednesday, June 14. Derivative contracts in a security are banned when they cross 95 per cent of the market-wide position limit (MWPL). No new positions can be created in the derivative contracts of the said security. This prohibition is lifted when the open interest in the stock drops below 80 per cent of the MWPL across exchanges.

FPIs buy shares worth Rs 1,715 crore
Provisional data available with NSE suggest that FPIs turned net buyers of domestic stocks to the tune of Rs 1,714.72 crore on Wednesday. However, domestic institutional investors (DIIs) turned net sellers of Indian equities to the tune of Rs 654.77 crore.

Rupee gains 15 paise against dollar
The rupee gained 15 paise to settle at 82.10 against the dollar on Wednesday, helped by robust macro fundamentals, FII inflows and a weak greenback against major rivals overseas. At the interbank foreign exchange market, the local unit opened at 82.28 against the US dollar and settled at 82.10, up 15 paise over its previous close amid a positive trend in domestic equities.

Note: With inputs from PTI, Reuters and other agencies