Nifty Opening Cues Amid US Banking Jitters As First Republic Hits Lifetime Low

By Malvika Gurung

Investing.com -- The Nifty 50 Futures listed on the Singapore-based Exchange SGX, an early indicator for Nifty50 , traded 0.16% or 29 points lower at 8:33 am on Thursday, indicating a flat-to-negative opening on Dalal Street. 

Further, the Dow Jones Futures climbed 0.1% and Nasdaq 100 Futures rose 0.54%.

Major US indices ended mixed on Wednesday, as the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite witnessed gains led by strong March quarterly earnings of Microsoft Corp (NASDAQ: MSFT ), which in turn boosted shares of rival tech stocks including Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN ), Snowflake Inc (NYSE: SNOW ) and more.

The other two benchmark indices shed in the overnight session amid investor concerns about a weakening US economy and jitters of a banking crisis, especially after First Republic Bank hit a new lifetime low at $4.76/share.

Nasdaq Composite rose 0.47%, Dow Jones fell 0.68% and S&P 500 dropped 0.38%.

Asian shares witnessed losses on Thursday, following a brewing banking crisis in the US amid troubles at the commercial bank First Republic Bank (NYSE: FRC ), while investors await cues on the economy ahead of the Fed’s meeting next week.

At 8:38 am, South Korea’s KOSPI advanced 0.16%, Japan’s Nikkei 225 declined 0.23%, China’s Shanghai Composite rose 0.35%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index dropped 0.17%, and Australia’s ASX 200 fell 0.42%.

Oil prices rose slightly on Thursday, but were nursing sharp losses for the week as fears of slowing economic growth largely offset signs of tightening U.S. supplies, noted an Investing.com report.

Brent crude climbed 0.21% to $77.88/barrel and WTI Futures trades at $74.43 a barrel. Natural Gas Futures slips 0.13%.