NIFTY50, SENSEX today: Wall Street cues, FII activity, key things to know before markets open on March 5

The Indian equity benchmarks are set to stage a gap up opening on Thursday, March 5, as indicated by GIFT NIFTY futures. NIFTY futures at GIFT City in Ahmedabad advanced 106 points to 24,691 amid strong cues from global markets.

The Indian benchmark indices, SENSEX and NIFTY50, closed in the negative territory on Wednesday, March 4, as the widening conflict in the Middle East soured investment sentiment.

Furthermore, oil prices surged amid a rising risk of a major supply shock to global oil as exports from Iraq and Kuwait could begin shutting down within days if the Strait of Hormuz remains closed.

Rupee slumped 69 paise to an all-time low of 92.18 against the US dollar in early trade on Wednesday, as a sharp spike in crude oil prices amid geopolitical tensions following the escalation of the US–Iran conflict.

Asian markets

Asian markets staged a strong recovery on Thursday led by South Korea's KOPSPI index's 10% gain. Japan's Nikkei advanced 2.44%, China's Shanghai Composite advanced 0.77% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng rose 1.71%.

Crude oil price update

Oil prices moderated throughout Wednesday. After briefly topping $84, the price for a barrel of Brent crude, the international standard, settled at $81.40, back to where it was a day earlier. A barrel of benchmark US crude rose 0.1% to $74.66, news agency AP reported.

However, oil resumed its upward climb early Thursday, gaining 2.4% to $83.32 per barrel. US benchmark crude jumped 2.5% to $76.53 per barrel.

Wall Street update

Overnight, US markets bounced back sharply on Wednesday as investors looked past the West Asia crisis. The NASDAQ advanced over 1.4%, followed by the S&P500 at 0.7% and the Dow Jones by 0.5%.

The situation continues to remain grim between Iran, Israel and the US despite the rumours of negotiations surfacing around. The NYT report stated that Iran’s new Supreme Leader wants to make a deal with the US, following which the crude oil prices fell from the recent highs.

On the other hand, the US markets were also boosted by strong private jobs growth and easing inflation pressures in the services sector. Consequently, tech shares led the rally with Micron and AMD surging over 5.5%, while Amazon surged 3.5%.

FII/DII activity

Foreign institutional investors sold shares worth ₹8,753 crore on Wednesday while domestic institutional investors bought shares worth ₹12,068 crore, data from the National Stock Exchange showed.

The FIIs have sold shares worth ₹8,456 crore in March compared with shares worth ₹22,615 bought by them in February, according to the data from National Securities Depository Limited (NSDL).

Stocks to watch

The city gas provider said that acts of war are not covered by the insurance taken by Gujarat Gas. The likely impact of force majeure, which is presently an ongoing event, cannot be estimated at this point of time, it said.

Trade setup

On the technical front, the NIFTY50 closed below the crucial support zone of 24,571 to 24,600 which was also a budget-day-low support level. A follow-up closing on Thursday at the current levels would signal further weakness in the index.

On the options data front, the 25,000 calls hold the highest open interest, indicating near term resistance at these levels. On the flipside, the 24,000 calls hold the highest open interest, indicating the near term support for the index. The wide range between 24,000 to 25,000 indicates strong near term volatility in the index.