D-St’s Opening As SGX Nifty in Red: Gloomy Global Cues, Hang Seng Index Dives

By Malvika Gurung

Investing.com -- The Nifty 50 Futures listed on the Singapore-based Exchange SGX, an early indicator for Nifty50 , traded 0.47% or 86.5 points lower at 8:55 am on Thursday, indicating a negative opening on Dalal Street amid weak global cues.

Further, the Dow Jones Futures and Nasdaq 100 Futures traded flat.

Major indices on Wall Street ended lower on Wednesday, following an over 13% plunge in the leading big-box retailer Target due to a grim outlook, raising concerts ahead of the year-end busy holiday season. Consequently, retail stocks slumped too.

Nasdaq Composite tanked 1.54%, S&P 500 declined 0.83% and Dow Jones slipped 0.12%.

Despite a gloomy forecast of a drop in holiday-quarter sales by Target, US retail sales rose more than expected in Oct, clouding the inflation outlook and Fed’s move to raise interest rates.

Stocks across Asian markets traded mostly lower on Thursday ahead of multiple economic data scheduled to be released, while investors remained concerned about the US Fed’s rate hike after stronger-than-expected retail sales data.

At 9 am, South Korea’s KOSPI 50 fell 1.06%, Japan’s Nikkei 225 slipped 0.4%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng tumbled 2.84%, China’s Shanghai Composite declined 1% and Australia's ASX 200 traded flat.

Oil fell sharply on Thursday as rising Covid cases in China rose concerns about curtailing demand despite US inventories falling significantly more than expected and supply appearing to tighten.

Brent crude fell 1.15% to $91.8/barrel and WTI Futures plunged 1.4% to $84.4/barrel while writing. Natural Gas Futures rose 0.35%.