D-Street off to a muted start as Fed minutes dim rate cute hopes

Federal Reserve officials grew more concerned about inflation at their most recent meeting, indicating that they lacked the confidence to move forward with .

The meeting followed a series of readings showing that inflation was more persistent than expected at the start of 2024. The Fed targets a 2% inflation rate, but all indicators showed price increases running well ahead of that mark.

From the pack, , , L&T, , and opened higher, while Power Grid, Sun Pharma, JSW Steel, and Tata Steel opened with cuts.

U.S.-rate cut sensitive Nifty rose 0.23%, led by the Coforge, LTTS, and Persistent Systems.

Among individual stocks, surged 5% in early trade after Domino's India franchisee reported a rise in fourth-quarter profit benefitting from one-time gain and more store openings.

Sector-wise, Bank, Realty, Consumer Durables, and Nifty Gas & Oil opened with gains, while Nifty Auto, FMCG, Media, Metal, and Pharma closed with gains.

Experts Take
Deven Mehata, Research Analyst at Choice Broking, said, "Nifty can find support at 22,530 followed by 22,500 and 22,450. On the higher side, 22,650 can be an immediate resistance, followed by 22,750 and 22,800."

Global Markets
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan lost 0.57%. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 index was one of the biggest decliners, slumping 0.8%, also hurt by a pullback in some commodity prices.

U.S. futures meanwhile received an early boost after AI darling Nvidia forecast quarterly revenue above estimates after the bell on Wednesday, which sent its shares jumping 5.9% in extended trade. S&P 500 futures tacked on 0.3%, while Nasdaq futures gained 0.57% in Asia trade.

FIITracker
Foreign institutional investors sold Indian equities worth Rs 686 crore on May 22. Conversely, domestic institutional investors bought Rs 961 crore worth of equities during the same period.

Oil Prices Decline
Oil prices eased for a fourth straight day on Thursday on worries that U.S. borrowing costs could be hiked again if inflation surged, a move that could hurt oil demand.

Brent crude futures fell 41 cents, or 0.5%, to $81.49 a barrel. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude (WTI) futures were down 49 cents, or 0.63%, at $77.08.

Currency Watch
The Indian rupee fell 5 paise to 83.28 against the US dollar in early trade. The dollar index, which tracks the movement of the greenback against a basket of six major world currencies, declined 0.07% to 104.85 level.

(With inputs from agencies)
(Disclaimer: Recommendations, suggestions, views and opinions given by the experts are their own. These do not represent the views of Economic Times)