Stock Markets Live: SGX Nifty Indicates Gains; Biocon, TCS, IDFC In Focus

Good Morning!

Indian equities witnessed weekly options expiry day volatility in the final minutes of trade on Thursday as they ended with losses.

This was the first time since Oct. 30 when both the Sensex and Nifty 50 declined for two straight sessions. Yet, the Sensex is up 0.5% so far this week. A positive close today would mean 10 successive weekly gains for the index, its longest such run since June 2009.

Futures are indicating a positive start to today’s trading session. The Singapore-traded SGX Nifty, an early indicator of the Nifty 50 Index’s performance in India, rose 0.5% to 14,278 as of 8:00 a.m. on Friday.

Asian equities have followed their U.S. counterparts higher this morning on the prospects of more stimulus once Joe Biden takes over as the next U.S. President.

Benchmark indices in Japan, Australia and South Korea traded with gains, with the latter outperforming. Futures on the Dow Jones are trading 112 points higher after ending at a record high on Thursday with gains of 0.7%.

West Texas Intermediate crude rose 0.4% to $51.1 per barrel, while Bitcoin pared some gains after hitting the $40,000-mark.

Short on time? Well, then listen to this podcast for a quick summary of All You Need To Know before the opening bell.