Stock Market LIVE Updates, Monday, October 7, 2024: GIFT Nifty futures, trading around 60 points ahead at 25,237 at 7:30 AM, indicated markets in India were likely to start on a positive note on Monday, tracking gains in its Wall Street and Asian peers.

On Friday, benchmark equity indices BSE Sensex and Nifty 50 had around 1 per cent lower each.

The Sensex declined 808.65 points, or 0.98 per cent, to 81,688.45, while the Nifty 50 pulled back by 235.50 points, or 0.93 per cent, to close at 25,014.60. 

Broader indices also ended in the red, with the Nifty Midcap 100 and Nifty Smallcap 100 settling down by 1.01 per cent and 0.90 per cent, respectively.

Sectoral indices, including FMCG, Auto, Media, Realty, and Oil & Gas, each fell by more than 1 per cent, while the Nifty Media index declined by 2.53 per cent.

However, the IT and PSU Bank indices succeeded in eking out some gains, ending higher by 0.45 per cent and 0.61 per cent, respectively.

Meanwhile, Asian stocks rallied and the dollar reached a fresh seven-week peak on the yen on Monday after a blowout US labour data dispelled fears of a recession and spurred a sharp paring of rate-cut bets.

Short-term US Treasury yields rose after the closely watched non-farm payrolls report on Friday showed the economy unexpectedly added the most jobs in six months in September.

Crude oil prices eased from a one-month peak even as Israel bombed targets in Lebanon and the Gaza Strip, with Monday marking one year since the Hamas attack that triggered the war.

Japan’s Nikkei led regional equity gains with a 2 per cent rally as of 5:45 AM, given additional momentum by the softer yen.

Australia’s stock benchmark added 0.12 per cent and South Korea’s Kospi gained 0.29 per cent.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng had yet to open, and mainland Chinese stocks remain closed until Tuesday for the Golden Week holiday.

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares climbed 0.4 per cent.

US Dow futures pointed 0.08 per cent higher after the cash index closed at an all-time peak after the payrolls data on Friday.

The US dollar pushed as high as 149.10 yen for the first time since Aug. 16 before last trading hands up 0.18% at 148.87 yen.

Bets for a super-sized 50-basis-point rate cut at the Federal Reserve’s next policy announcement on November 7 – which had been above 50 per cent a week ago – were completely erased after the payrolls report.

Instead, traders now lay 95 per cent odds on a quarter-point cut, with a small chance that the policy rate stays unchanged, according to CME Group’s FedWatch Tool.

Back home, the reconstituted six-member Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is expected to maintain ‘status quo’ for the 10th consecutive policy review, said all the 10 respondents polled by Business Standard ahead of the  panel’s  meeting during October 7-9. The RBI will announce the review of the policy on October 9.

The decision to keep rates unchanged would be based on the ongoing risk of food inflation, as daily retail prices, particularly those of vegetables, continue to trend upward, the respondents in the poll said.

That apart, the two-year US Treasury yield rose 1.7 basis points to 3.9488 per cent on Monday, the highest in more than a month.

Gold edged 0.1 per cent lower to $2,849.29 an ounce, but remained not far from last month’s record peak of $2,685.42.

Crude prices slipped following their biggest weekly gains in more than a year amid the mounting threat of a region-wide war in the Middle East.

Brent crude futures lost 65 cents to $77.40 per barrel, while US West Texas Intermediate crude futures declined 53 cents to $73.85 per barrel.

(With inputs from Reuters.)