Market Cues Today: India-US Trade Talks, Core Sector Growth, Gold Rate Today And Other Factors Likely To Impact Trade

Market Cues Today: The headline indices are likely to have a flattish start following marginal declines in the Gift Nifty on September 23. In the early hours of September 23, the Gift Nifty traded around 25,257 down by 48 points or 0.19 per cent.

On September 22, the Sensex and Nifty extended losses for the third straight day as D-street reacted to the H1-B Visa fee hike. The Sensex finished at 82,159.97, down by 466.26 points or 0.56 per cent on the other hand the Nifty 50 finished at 25,202.35 down by 124.7 points or 0.49 per cent.

Stock Market Cues On September 23

D-street is set to react to mixed cues such as the impact of the H1-B Visa fee hike, core sector growth data for the month of August and the ongoing India-US trade talks. Additionally changes in commodity prices are also set to impact D-street in the upcoming days:

India-US Trade Talks

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar interacted with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on September 22. The two ministers interacted on the sidelines of the 80th UN General Assembly (UNGA). Rubio emphasised on USA’s partnership with India and added that the two nations should “continue working together to promote a free and open Indo-Pacific region, including through the Quad.”

On the other hand, Union commerce minister Piyush Goyal and United States trade representative Jamieson Greer also met in New York on September 22 to bolster trade talks between the two countries.

Core Sector Growth 

The commerce and industry ministry released core-sector growth data for the month of August on September 22. As per the ministry’s data India’s core-sector growth grew at its fastest pace in the last 13 months in August. Robust expansion in output of coal, steel, and refinery products drove the growth. The eight core sectors which include coal, crude oil, natural gas, refinery products, fertilisers, steel, cement, and electricity grew 6.3 per cent in August. Notably the rate of growth was significantly more than the 3.7 per cent growth seen in July. In August, 2024, core sector growth contracted by 1.5 per cent.

Crude Oil Prices On September 23

On September 23 crude oil prices witnessed a slight dip as the price of West Texas Intermediate crude was around $62.64 down by $0.04 or 0.06 per cent. On the other hand the price of Brent Crude remained around $66.19 down by $0.38 or 0.57 per cent.

Gold Rate On September 23

On September 23, the price of 24 karat gold was Rs 11,308 per gram, the price of 22 karat gold was around Rs 10,366 per gram and the price of 18 karat gold was Rs 8,482 per gram.

FII, DII Flows

Foreign Institutional Investors became net sellers of Indian equities on September 22, making net sale of equities worth Rs 2,910.09 crore. On the other hand Domestic Institutional Investors net purchased equities worth Rs 2,582.63 crore.

Asian Indices Trade Mixed On September 23

In the morning hours of September 23, the Hang Seng and the Shanghai Composite witnessed declines of 0.76 per cent and 1.15 per cent respectively. On the other hand the KOSPI traded higher by 0.32 per cent in early trade.

US Market Indices

US market indices finished the session September 22 with gains, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.14 per cent, the Nasdaq Composite gained 0.7 per cent and the S&P 500 closed with gains of 0.44 per cent.