Domestic stocks are likely to open on Friday due to a lack of directional cues, as US markets were shut overnight on account of Thanksgiving Day. Asian markets were trading slightly lower on Friday morning, while crude oil prices and the dollar index went up. Nifty's daily momentum indicator RSI is in a positive crossover. The trend looks positive as long as the index stays above 18,350, said Rupak De of LKP Securities. He said that a breach of the level will push the Nifty higher, as the resistance is visible at 18,650.
Nifty futures on the Singapore Exchange quoted 46 points, or 0.25 per cent, lower than 18,622 suggesting a weak start for the domestic market on Friday.
On Friday morning, Asian markets declined marginally due to concerns over rising Covid cases in China and inflation in Japan. Japan's Nikkei declined 0.20 per cent, China's Shanghai Composite fell 0.13 per cent, Hong Kong's Hang Seng was down 1.27 per cent and Korea's Kospi declined 0.09 per cent.
The key US indices were shut on Thursday because of Thanksgiving Day. After the November meeting minutes of the Federal Reserve showed that interest rate hikes may slow down soon, the indices had settled higher on Wednesday. The Dow Jones index rose 95.96 points, or 0.28 per cent, to close at 34,194. On Wednesday, the deadline is 06.00. The S&P 500 index gained 23.68 points, or 0.59 per cent, to 4,027, according to the S&P 500 index. The Nasdaq Composite Index jumped 110.91 points, or 0.99 per cent, to 11,285. Oil prices had a rebound on Friday morning, trimming some of the week's losses. The price of crude futures rose 13 cents, or 0.2 per cent, to $85.47 a barrel. The US West Texas Intermediate WTI crude futures added 35 cents, or 0.5 per cent, to $78.32 a barrel. There was no WTI settlement Thursday due to the US Thanksgiving holiday, according to Reuters.
Friday will see three stocks of Maharashtra Seamless, Commercial Syn Bags and Veer Energy ex-bonus, five stocks of Abans Enterprises, Premco Global, Golechha Global Finance, NILE and Manaksia going ex-dividend and two stocks Dev Information Technology and Mafatlal Industries going ex-split today. Two of the stocks Roni Households and SMC Credits will go ex-rights today.
No security is banned in the F&O segment. A security's derivative contract is banned when it crosses 95 per cent of the market-wide position limit MWPL. No new positions can be created in the derivative contracts of the security. The prohibition will be lifted when the open interest in the stock drops below 80 per cent of the MWPL across exchanges.
Provisional data available with the NSE shows that FPIs were net buyers of domestic stocks to the tune of 1,231. There was 98 crore on Thursday. Domestic institutional investors DIIs were selling equities to the tune of Rs 235.66 crore.
A weak dollar in the overseas market and a rally in domestic equity helped boost investor sentiment, as the rupee appreciated 23 paise to close at 81.70 against the dollar on Thursday. The dollar fell in international trade due to the weak US data and dovish Fed minutes, according to traders. The local unit hit an intra-day high of 81.60 and a low of 81.77 during the day.