PremiumIndian indices may witness a flat start on Monday. The indices closed higher last week after two straight weeks of losses. Asian stocks faced an uncertain start on Monday as persistent inflation fears and the prospect of rising interest rates dogged the global economic outlook, which remains mired in negative sentiment. Shares rose in Japan, Hong Kong and remained muted in Australia, South Korea, and Shanghai.
A total of five stocks have been put under the ban for trade on Monday, May 2, 2022 under the futures and options (F&O) segment by the National Stock Exchange (NSE). These securities have been put on ban under the F&O segment as they have crossed 95% of the market-wide position limit (MWPL), as per the NSE.
Delhivery IPO listing: Share listing date of Delhivery is fast approaching as most likely Delhivery IPO listing date is 24th May 2022. According to stock market experts, company's financials are poor and the company's public issue is price at high valuation as well. They said that market sentiment is highly volatile and hence Delhivery shares may have a weak listing. Meanwhile, grey market sentiments are also not encouraging for the public issue. As per the market observers, shares of Delhivery are available at a discount of ₹5.
Cryptocurrency prices today surged with Bitcoin trading above the $30,000 mark. The world's largest and most popular cryptocurrency surged over 2% and was trading at $30,034. Though, it is down 36% so far this year, and trading far below the peak of $69,000 it hit in November 2021.
Gold prices touched a more than one-week high on Monday, as an easing dollar continued to support greenback-priced bullion, although higher U.S. Treasury yields capped gains. Spot gold rose 0.2% to $1,848.96 per ounce, by 0201 GMT. Prices hit their highest since May 12 at $1,853.55 earlier in the session. U.S. gold futures gained 0.4% to $1,847.90.
U.S. grains futures edged higher on Monday, lifted by a weaker dollar, an upside in crude oil and as adverse weather conditions threatened production in key producing countries.
* The most-active wheat contract on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) was up 0.98% at $10.80-1/4 a bushel, as of 0146 GMT, after falling 0.74% last week.
* Corn rose 0.71% to $7.84-1/4 a bushel and soybeans edged 0.62% higher to $17.15-3/4 a bushel.
FUNDAMENTALS
* Growing conditions for wheat and barley crops in France fell sharply for a second straight week, data from farm office FranceAgriMer showed on Friday, as a hot spell exacerbated drought in the European Union's biggest grain producer.
* Higher oil prices further supported prices of corn, which is used to make alternative fuel ethanol.
Oil prices rose in early trade on Monday with U.S. fuel demand, tight supply and a slightly weaker U.S. dollar supporting the market, as Shanghai prepares to reopen after a two-month lockdown fuelled worries about a sharp slowdown in growth.
Brent crude futures rose 82 cents to $113.37 a barrel at 0126 GMT, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures climbed 69 cents, or 0.6%, to $110.97 a barrel, adding to last week's small gains for both contracts.
"Oil prices are supported as gasoline markets remain tight amid solid demand heading into the peak U.S. driving season," said SPI Asset Management managing partner Stephen Innes.
"Refineries are typically in ramp-up mode to feed U.S. drivers' unquenching thirst at the pump."
The U.S. peak driving season traditionally begins on Memorial Day weekend at the end of May and ends on Labour Day in September.
Asian stocks traded mixed Monday as investors assess the impact of China’s Covid policies on growth and the outlook for the world’s largest economies. The dollar and Treasuries retreated.
Equities rose modestly in Japan, but a slide in Chinese tech stocks and a virus outbreak in Beijing weighed in Hong Kong and China. Nasdaq 100 and S&P 500 futures jumped about 1% after the S&P 500 dropped for a seventh straight week in a stretch of weakness not seen since 2001.
Beijing reported a record number of Covid cases, reviving concerns about a lockdown. China’s stringent Covid Zero policy has stifled economic growth and prompted banks last week to cut a key interest rate for long-term loans by a record amount.
The dollar began the week on the back foot, following its first weekly loss in nearly two months, as investors cut bets on further dollar gains from rising U.S. rates and turned hopeful that loosening lockdowns in China can help global growth.
U.S stock market futures bounced sharply in early Asia trade and pulled the risk-sensitive Australian and New Zealand dollars along for the ride.
The Aussie was last up 0.4% at $0.7080 and has lifted 3.8% in a week and a half. The kiwi rose 0.6% to $0.6450, a three-week high.
"It's a reasonably positive start to the week," said National Australia Bank's head of foreign exchange strategy, Ray Attrill.
"We did have a sharp reversal of U.S. equity market weakness in the last hour or so on Friday, so maybe there's some momentum there," he added. "The U.S. dollar looks, for the time being, to be losing upside momentum."
The euro and yen rose, with the yen up 0.1% to 127.83 per dollar and the euro up 0.2% at $1.0586 following last week's 1.5% gain on the dollar.
The U.S. dollar index fell 0.1% to 102.790, about 2% beneath a two-decade high of 105.010 made earlier in May.
Asian stocks faced an uncertain start on Monday as persistent inflation fears and the prospect of rising interest rates dogged the global economic outlook, which remains mired in negative sentiment.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was 0.04% higher, after U.S. stocks ended the previous session with negligible gains for the day. The index is down 3.6% so far this month.
In early trade, Australian shares gained 0.2% while Japan's Nikkei stock index was 0.85% higher.
The yield on benchmark 10-year Treasury notes rose to 2.7883% from its U.S. close of 2.787% on Friday.
The two-year yield, which rises with traders' expectations of higher Fed fund rates, touched 2.5869%, up from 2.583%.
Uncertainty in market sentiment this week follows the S&P 500's meagre gains on Friday of just 0.01%.
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