(15-Mar-2023)Market may open higher on firm global stocks

SGX Nifty:

Trading of Nifty 50 index futures on the Singapore stock exchange indicates that the Nifty could rise 85 points at the opening bell.

Global markets:

Overseas, Asian stocks are trading higher on Wednesday after bank stocks on Wall Street rebounded on optimism of contagion risk from Silicon Valley Bank being contained.

China's industrial output rose 2.4% in the January to February period, official data showed. Retail sales rose 3.5% for the same period. The People's Bank of China kept the rate on 481 billion yuan of one-year medium-term lending facility loans at 2.75%.

US stocks bounced back on Tuesday as largely on-target inflation data and easing jitters over contagion in the banking sector cooled expectations regarding the size of the rate hike at the Federal Reserve's policy meeting next week.

Underlying US consumer prices rose in February by the most in five months. The consumer price index, excluding food and energy, increased 0.5% last month and 5.5% from a year earlier, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data out Tuesday. The overall CPI climbed 0.4% in February and 6% from a year earlier.

Moody's Investors Service on Tuesday revised its outlook on the US banking system to negative from stable, citing heightened risks for the sector after the rapid unraveling of SVB Financial Group fueled fears of contagion. Moody's also said it was expecting the Federal Reserve to continue tightening monetary policy, in contrast to some others who are expecting the bank collapses this month to reshape the trajectory for interest rate hikes.

Domestic markets:

Back home, the key equity indices ended a volatile session with significant losses on Tuesday, sliding for the fourth straight session. The barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was down 337.66 points or 0.58% to 57,900.19. The Nifty 50 index lost 111 points or 0.65% to 17,043.30.

Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) sold shares worth Rs 3,086.96 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs), were net buyers to the tune of Rs 2,121.94 crore in the Indian equity market on 14 March, provisional data showed.