GIFT NIFTY futures indicate gap-up opening on November 3; key things to know before stock market opens

Equity market indices are set to witness a gap-up opening on Tuesday, November 3, as investors focus on foreign investors pulling out of major developed markets, lower oil prices, steady US Treasury yields and the demand for relatively safer equities.

During the morning hours on Tuesday, the GIFT NIFTY futures were trading 1.18% or 273.50 points higher at 23,513 levels as of 7:39 am (IST), indicating an elevated buying interest from investors and a potentially strong performance for the benchmark indices on November 3.

With the GIFT NIFTY trading higher, the futures indicate a potentially 73 point or higher opening on Tuesday’s market, when compared to the previous market close.

NSE data showed that the benchmark NIFTY50 index closed 1.68% higher at 23,440.80 points after Monday’s trading session, in comparison to 23,053.10 points at the previous equity market close.

The BSE SENSEX ended 1.66% higher at 75,692.78 points on Monday’s market, in comparison to 74,459.53 points at the previous stock market close, as per the exchange data.

After the massive buying spree on Monday’s market, Indian investors are looking for further momentum cues in the market as foreign investors continue to turn away from tech and AI chipmaking stocks in major markets which are witnessing a massive selloff.

Key focus will remain on the oil prices, geopolitical developments from West Asia, and the momentum cues from Asian markets amid reports of a latest attack on Iran.

Key things to watch before market open

Oil trades near $108/barrel

Crude oil prices were trading slightly elevated near $108 per barrel (bbl) during the early market hours on Tuesday, India time, in comparison to the previous close, as the energy prices witnessed a major cooling session on Monday’s market.

TradingView data showed that the benchmark Brent crude oil prices were trading 0.38% higher at $108.6 per bbl as of 7:40 am (IST) on November 3, in comparison to $108.25 per bbl at the previous commodity market close.

The oil prices eased to Tuesday’s levels this week from $118 per bbl levels during last week’s trading session on Friday, amid the elevated risk concerns among investors about further escalation in West Asia after the US midterm elections.

Brent January futures were trading 0.18% higher at $104.41 per bbl on Tuesday’s market, in comparison to $104.25 per bbl at the previous market close.

Crude oil prices were trading higher on Tuesday’s market, as investors focused on the latest reports about the United States attacking Qeshm Island, Iran, on Monday evening, reported the news portal WSJ citing officials aware of the development.

The report suggests that America secretly carried out the attack against Iran at a time when the markets were preparing for a further escalation attempt from the US President Donald Trump. However, no official confirmation about the attack has been provided so far.

Asian markets today

The Asian equity markets were witnessing an overall selling pressure from investors during the morning market hours on Tuesday, November 3, over weak cues from Wall Street and rising fears over AI technology, a day after the benchmark indices ended in the positive territory due to a sharp pullback in crude oil prices.

MarketWatch data showed that Japan’s Nikkei 225 was trading 0.33% lower, Shanghai Composite was down 0.65%, South Korea’s KOSPI was down 2.6%, and Singapore’s FTSE was trading 0.35% lower on Monday’s market.

In contrast, the Hang Seng was up 0.36% amid the mixed global cues on November 3.

US Treasury yields

As global investors exit equities on Wall Street, the demand for the benchmark US 10-year Treasury note witnessed an increase during the latter half of Monday’s market, with the yield rising to 4.91% levels amid the tech selloff.

Although the US Treasury yields have remained steady for the last few days, the current geopolitical situation with the US midterm elections in the cards this week, investors will closely monitor the yields.

FIIs purchase ₹3,114 crore

NSE data showed that Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) purchased around ₹3,114.68 crore worth of capital market assets across the exchanges on Monday, November 2, while the domestic institutional investors (DIIs) sold around ₹392.20 crore on the equity market.

This comes at a time when the global equity markets in Asia and Wall Street are suffering from the rout in tech and chipmaking stocks with Nasdaq crashing for consecutive trading sessions amid rising AI fears in the market.

Equity market investors continue to move out of the tech stocks in US and Asia, in turn increasing the exposure and powering the buying sentiment in other emerging markets like India, which offer lesser risk profile than the downtrend factor in major markets.

Wall Street recap

The equity market indices in the United States ended on a mixed note, with Dow Jones closing in the green due to lower crude oil prices, while both S&P 500 and Nasdaq witnessed a trend reversal, closing in negative territory due to elevated AI concerns in the market.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 0.41% higher at 51,983.98 points after Monday’s trading session, in comparison to 51,770.31 points at the previous equity market close, as per the exchange data.

The S&P 500 ended 0.51% lower at 7,541.40 points, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 index crashed to end 1.39% lower at 27,989.82 points as of the stock market closing levels on November 2.