Stock Market LIVE Updates, Saturday, September 28, 2024: Indian equity benchmark indices were likely to start on a muted note on Saturday’s mock trading session being organised by the National Stock Exchange (NSE) to test for disaster preparedness. 

At last check, GIFT Nifty futures were at 26,289, around 50 points behind Nifty futures’ last close.

Indian equity benchmark indices, BSE Sensex and Nifty 50, after surging to fresh all-time highs, pared their gains to end the week’s last trading session in negative territory.

At closing bell on Friday, the BSE Sensex was down 264 points, or 0.31 per cent, at 85,571.85. The 30-stock index had touched a record high of 85,978.25 during early trades in the day.

Notably, index-heavyweight, Reliance Industries, ended with gains of 1.71 per cent. 

Nifty 50, on the other hand, scaled an all-time high of 26,277.35 before ending Friday’s session with a loss of 37.13 points, or 0.14 per cent, at 26,178.95.

Among the broader indices, the Nifty Midcap 100, and Nifty Smallcap 100 indices settled with losses of 0.15 per cent, and 0.10 per cent, respectively.

Bank Nifty, Media, Nifty Private Bank, and Realty indices ended with losses of over 1 per cent each.

Meanwhile, Nifty Oil & Gas outperformed the other sectoral indices and ended higher by 2.37 per cent, while PSU Bank, Pharma, Metal, and IT were among other indices that ended with gains of up to 1.15 per cent.

That apart, Treasury yields and the dollar fell while the Dow registered a record closing high on Friday as a subdued US inflation report lifted expectations of an outsized interest rate cut at the Federal Reserve’s November policy meeting.

A global stock index also reached a record high, helped by China’s stimulus boost, and European shares posted an all-time high close.

The yen firmed against the dollar after Japan’s former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba looked set to become the next prime minister.

The personal consumption expenditures price index, the Fed’s favored inflation measure, rose 0.1 per cent in August after an unrevised 0.2 per cent gain in July. Economists had forecast PCE inflation rising 0.1 per cent. In the 12 months through August, the PCE price index increased 2.2 per cent after rising 2.5 per cent in July.

Markets are fully pricing in a cut of at least 25 basis points at the Fed’s November meeting, with expectations for another upsized 50 basis point cut now up to 56.7 per cent after the data, according to CME’s FedWatch Tool, from 49.9 per cent before the release.

Other data showed US consumer spending increased slightly less than expected in August.

The Fed kicked off its latest easing cycle on September 18 with a 50 basis point cut in interest rates.

Ongoing conflict in the Middle East, with Israel’s attack in Lebanon, also pushed Treasury prices higher in a flight-to-quality bid, pressuring their yields, analysts said.

The yield on benchmark US 10-year notes fell 3.5 basis points to 3.754 per cent, from 3.789 per cent late on Thursday.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 137.89 points, or 0.33 per cent, to 42,313.00, the S&P 500 fell 7.20 points, or 0.13 per cent, to 5,738.17 and the Nasdaq Composite fell 70.70 points, or 0.39 per cent, to 18,119.59.

All three major US stock indices posted a third straight week of gains.

MSCI’s gauge of stocks across the globe rose 2.15 points, or 0.25 per cent, to 852.84 and hit an intraday record high. Europe’s benchmark STOXX 600 index closed at a record high, ending up 0.5 per cent at 528.08.

China’s blue chips jumped 4.5 per cent, bringing their weekly rise to 15.7 per cent, the most since November 2008. 

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index also gained 3.6 per cent and was up 13 per cent for the week, its best performance since 1998.

China’s central bank lowered interest rates and injected liquidity into the banking system, and more fiscal measures are expected to be announced before week-long Chinese holidays starting on October 1.

The dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of currencies including the yen and the euro, was down 0.17 per cent at 100.43 after falling to 100.15, its lowest since July 20, 2023, with the euro off 0.14 per cent at $1.116.

Aluminum prices in London touched a 16-week high on fund buying triggered by the latest economic stimulus measures in top metals consumer China.

Three-month aluminum on the London Metal Exchange was 0.4 per cent higher at $2,623 per metric ton in official open-outcry trading after hitting $2,659, the highest since June 6.

Oil prices rose on Friday but fell on the week as investors weighed expectations for higher global supply against fresh stimulus China.

US crude rose 51 cents to settle at $68.18 a barrel and Brent edged up 38 cents to $71.98 per barrel.