Summary: March quarter earnings and Futures & Options (F&O) contract expiry will keep the domestic investors busy on Thursday coupled with Japan’s interest rate decision. About 22 companies are slated to announce their Q4 numbers during the day, including Axis Bank, Maruti Suzuki India, Biocon, Cochin Malabar Estate, Indiabulls Ventures, Nestle India, SBI Life Insurance and Tata Steel. Benchmark indices, BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty50, saw sudden recovery during the last trading hour on Wednesday to end 490 points and 150 points higher, respectively. In the forex market, the rupee on Wednesday declined by 24 paise to close at 69.86 against the US dollar. GLOBAL CUES Oil prices fell on Thursday as record US output and rising crude stockpiles dampened the impact of tighter US sanctions on Iran and producer club OPEC’s continued curbs on supply. Brent crude futures were at $74.35 per barrel, down 0.3 per cent, at 06:07 am from their last close. In the equity markets, Asian shares dipped in the early trade on Thursday after a surprise deterioration in German business morale triggered fears of slowing global growth. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan eased 0.2 per cent, while Japan’s Nikkei average edged up 0.3 per cent to 22,264.81 points. During the overnight trade, US indices shrugged off some earnings’ misses but ended lower at the end of the session. While Dow Jones Industrial Average ended 59.3 points lower at 26,597.05, S&P500 slipped 6.43 points to close at 2,927.25. Nasdaq, too, lost 18.81 points to end at 8,102 levels.
