Nifty, Sensex Rise For The Second Straight Day, Despite Fed Rate Hike Risks

Equity benchmarks gained on Tuesday after turning positive in a see-saw session at the start of the week, driven by a broader pickup in risk sentiment during Asian hours, tracking a last-hour rise in stocks on Wall Street.

Still, the risk of a volatile trading session is high as trading patterns see-saw with an eye on the quantum and the path of Federal Reserve rate hikes in this cycle.

After closing in the green in the previous session, the 30-share BSE Sensex index rose over 500 points, and the broader NSE Nifty-50 index opened in the green, up about 1 per cent.

Both benchmarks have more or less recovered all of the losses from Friday’s bloodbath.

“Markets witnessed a smart recovery as Nifty gained traction amid a cautious tone. The recovery was seen even as investors reassess aggressive Fed tightening bets amid looming recession risks,” said Prashanth Tapse, Senior Vice President for Research at Mehta Equities, ahead of the opening bell, referring to the recovery in stocks on Monday.

Early in the Asian trading hours, the MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific equities outside of Japan rose 0.7 per cent, and US S&P 500 futures edged 0.11 per cent higher.

Australian stocks increased 1.1 per cent, while the Nikkei in Japan gained 0.38 per cent.

Early trading saw the blue-chip CSI300 index in China rise by 0.54 per cent. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index opened up 0.92 per cent.

As investors wait to see how forcefully the Fed will hike rates at this week’s policy meeting, Wall Street’s major indexes closed higher on Monday after oscillating between gains and losses throughout the session.

On Tuesday, the dollar remained strong but below a two-decade high versus major peers.