PremiumMumbai: Indian equity markets are likely to remain weak on Wednesday following global cues, while trends in SGX Nifty suggest a flat opening for domestic benchmark indices. On Tuesday, the BSE Sensex ended at 49,161.81, down 340.60 points or 0.69%, and the Nifty closed at 14,850.75, down 91.60 points or 0.61%.
Asian shares fell for a second straight session on Wednesday to one-month lows as investors speculated surging commodity prices and growing inflationary pressure in the United States could lead to earlier rate hikes and higher bond yields globally.
Premium Premium MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan faltered 0.5%, after tumbling 1.6% on Tuesday for its biggest daily percentage drop since March 24.
The equity rout barely helped drive any safe haven flows into the greenback even as futures pointed to yet another negative open for Wall Street. E-mini futures for the S&P 500 nudged 0.3% lower in early Asian trading.
Key companies which will announce March quarter results on Wednesday are Asian Paints, Tata Power, Lupin, Jindal Steel and Power, UPL, Voltas, Happiest Minds and Apollo Tyres.
Meanwhile, Vodafone Idea Ltd added wireless customers to its network for the first time since October 2019. According to Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) data, Vodafone Idea gained 652,625 subscribers in February, after losing 57.7 million customers in the past 15 months. Rival Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd led gains, with the Mukesh Ambani-owned telecom operator adding more subscribers than Bharti Airtel Ltd for the first time since July 2020. While Jio gained 4.3 million subscribers in February, Airtel signed up 3.7 million customers during the month.
Dr Reddy's Laboratories on Tuesday said it has inked a licensing pact with Eli Lilly and Company to produce Baricitinib in the country for treatment of covid-19.The Hyderabad-based firm said it has entered into a royalty-free, non-exclusive voluntary licensing agreement with Eli Lilly and Company for the manufacture and commercialisation of the drug in India.
All eyes are now on the US consumer price index report to be released by the U.S. Labor Department on Wednesday with market-based measures of inflation expectations having moved higher.
Treasury yields have remained stuck to a tight range. The yield on benchmark 10-year Treasuries edged lower to 1.6235%, a far cry from the 2% level seen in before the coronavirus pandemic. The US Federal Reserve expects higher inflation though officials have pointed to transient factors and base effect for the temporary rise.
The dollar was up 0.2% against the Japanese yen at 108.84 as it meandered in a narrow 107-110 band. The dollar index, which measures the greenback against six major currencies, was little changed at 90.297, after touching a two-month low of 89.979.
Oil prices were lifted by fears of a gasoline shortage after a cyber attack caused an outage at the largest US fuel pipeline system. US crude gained 17 cents to $65.45 a barrel. Brent crude added 15 cents to $68.70 per barrel.
Spot gold was off at $1,829.9 an ounce.
(Reuters contributed to the story)
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