Market LIVE updates: Flat open likely as SGX Nifty muted; Asian shares rise

Live market updates: The key benchmark indices are likely to start trade on a flat note as per trends indicated by the SGX Nifty futures, which were quoting 16,641 levels this morning, 30-odd points higher from Wednesday’s close. 

This comes after Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell affirmed that he is supportive of a 25 bps interest rate hike this month to fight inflation, quelling some concerns about an aggressive 50 bps rate hike. 

Given the certainty on the likely quantum of interest rate hikes, the US stock indices finished sharply higher on Wednesday erasing their previous losses. The Dow Jones rose 1.8 per cent, the S&P 500 climbed 1.9 per cent, while the Nasdaq Composite added 1.6 per cent. 

This apart, oil continued to surge on expectations the market will remain short of supply for months to come amid the Russia-Ukraine war. Moreover, the OPEC+ alliance agreed on Wednesday to stick to their plans of small output rise in April to upward monthly overall output by 400,000 barrels per day, a move which added fuel to the soaring oil prices. 

Brent futures soared to an intraday high of $121.89 a barrel, before settling 7.6 per cent higher at $112.93. WTI crude zoomed 7 per cent to $110.60 a barrel.

Back home, the market may see some volatility on account of the weekly F&O expiry. Among stocks, Vedanta may be in focus as it will pay a third interim dividend of Rs 13 per share for FY22 amounting to Rs 4,832 crore. The record date for the purpose of payment of the dividend is March 10.

UPL may also be eyed as the company’s board of directors have approved share buyback at up to Rs 875 per share. UPL will spend up to Rs 1,100 crore on buy back of up to 1.26 crore shares through open market route.