Stock market update: On Friday morning, Indian equity standards BSE Sensex and Nifty50 saw important declines. The BSE Sensex fell off over 850 points (0.69%) to 81,711.28, while the Nifty50 fell 230.30 points (0.92%) to 24,900.05. By 10:25 AM, the BSE Sensex was trading at 81,467.62, down 734 points or 0.89%, and the Nifty50 was at 24,922.55, down 223 points or 0.89%.
The drop was mainly dominated by banking stocks, with investors awaiting the U.S. jobs report, which is anticipated to shed light on the Federal Reserve's interest rate strategy.
Concerns about a potential recession in the labor market have been fueled by frailer job openings and fewer private sector gains in the U.S., leading to conjecture about a feasible 50 basis points rate cut during the Federal Reserve's meeting on September 17-18.
The upcoming US non-farm payroll report for August is anticipated to offer more clarity on the labor market's condition and influence the size of the rate cut.
Among individual stocks, KEC International and Ashoka Buildcon saw important gains, while sector-wise, the Nifty PSU Bank index, along with Nifty Auto, Financials, Metals, Consumer Durables, and Oil & Gas sectors, opened in the red. Experts suggest that the near-term trend in the market will be dominated by the US jobs data, with potential support and resistance levels for the Nifty index.
Global markets showed mixed results: MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan edged up 0.2%, while the Nikkei fell 0.1%. China's stock markets opened unequally, and Hong Kong's Hang Seng remained unchanged. Oil prices held steady as investors assessed the effects of a major drawdown in U.S. crude inventories and a delay in production increases by OPEC+ against mixed U.S. employment data.
On Friday, the Indian rupee strengthened following disappointing U.S. private payrolls data, which heightened expectations of a weaker jobs report and led traders to move away from the U.S. dollar.
