Benchmark indices opened on a tepid note on Thursday morning as global cues remain subdued. Fears of a recession in the US increased after Fed Chair Powell said that the central bank would move even more expeditiously than before in taming inflation, which could come at the cost of an economic downturn.
Back home too, the members of the monetary policy committee (MPC) of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) indicated more interest rate hike in the coming months to tackle rising inflation, minutes of the June policy review released on Wednesday showed.
Global Cues
Asian shares wobbled while commodity prices fell on Thursday as mounting worries about the risks of a global recession amid aggressive rate hikes by the Federal Reserve kept broad investor sentiment fragile. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan reversed earlier gains to be mostly flat in Asia trade. Stocks in South Korea were off, while Japan’s Nikkei was broadly unchanged.
Tokyo shares opened higher on Thursday as investors gauged inflation and recession risks after US Fed chair Jerome Powell pointed to the need for further rate hikes. The benchmark Nikkei 225 index rose 0.22 percent or 58.77 points to 26,208.32 in early trade, while the broader Topix index added 0.41 percent or 7.62 points to 1,860.27.
Wall Street’s main indexes ended with slim losses on Wednesday after choppy trading as energy shares weighed and investors digested Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s comments on the central bank’s aim to bring down inflation.The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 47.12 points, or 0.15%, to 30,483.13, the S&P 500 lost 4.9 points, or 0.13%, to 3,759.89 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 16.22 points, or 0.15%, to 11,053.08.
Read all the Latest News , Breaking News watch Top Videos and Live TV here.