Sensex, Nifty Open Flat; Adani Ports In Focus

Equity benchmarks BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty50 opened on a flat note on Thursday. Stocks in Asia advanced after US equities hit their hottest winning streak in two years, as investors cling to hopes that interest rates have peaked.

Adani Ports and SEZ Ltd (0.75 per cent up) is the top gainer among the Nifty50 stocks followed by BPCL, Mahindra and Mahindra, Dr Reddy’s and Hero MotoCorp. On the other hand, Tech Mahindra and HDFC Bank have lost the most.

Gold prices dip on profit-taking and dollar strength; eyes on Fed Chair Powell’s speech International and domestic gold prices eased on Wednesday as investors take profits as safe-haven buying eases while the dollar rises.

Meanwhile, the highly anticipated Fed Chair Powell’s speech at a conference celebrating the Fed’s Centennial of the Division of Research and Statistics did not provide any indication of the course of monetary policy.

Reflecting investors sentiments, SPDR Gold Trust ETF fund, said its holdings fell 0.03% to 867.28 tonnes on Wednesday.

However, the U.S. Treasury Yields continued to ease on Wednesday and capped downside in bullion.

From an intraday perspective, LBMA spot and COMEX futures of gold and silver futures started flat this early Thursday morning Asian trading as investors again await cues from Fed Chair Powell speech tonight as well.

Downside could be limited as benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury yields held near their lowest in more than a month, while the Dollar also remained subdued this Thursday morning.

Intraday, the range for COMEX December gold is between $1,940 to $1,972, while COMEX December silver is $22.120 to $22.985.

Domestically, the range for MCX gold December is 59,825 to 60,320, while that for MCX silver December is 70,330 to 71,585. — Sriram Iyer, Senior Research Analyst at Reliance Securities