USDINR CMP- 83.28 (spot) Indian Rupee declined on Thursday pressurised by a weak tone in the domestic markets and a rise in US Dollar. We expect Rupee to trade with a slight negative bias as risk aversion in the global markets amid rising geopolitical uncertainty in the Middle East may put pressure on Rupee. Rising US Dollar and surge in US bond yields may further pressurise the domestic unit. 10-year yields are at fresh cyclical highs amid higher-for-longer interest rate theme. However, any diplomatic efforts to contain the conflict in the Middle East may support Rupee at lower levels. Traders may take cues from weekly unemployment claims and existing home sales data from US. Investors may remain cautious ahead of US Federal Reserve Chair, Jerome Powell’s speech for some cues over monetary policy trajectory. USDINR spot price is expected to trade in a range of Rs 83 to Rs 83.60,” said Anuj Choudhary – Research Analyst at Sharekhan by BNP Paribas.

Granules India announced on Thursday that the US Food & Drug Administration (US FDA) has approved its Abbreviated New Drug Application (ANDA) for Esomeprazole Magnesium Delayed-Release Capsules USP, 20 mg and 40 mg.

According to the company’s statement, it is bioequivalent and therapeutically equivalent to the reference listed drug (RLD), Nexium Delayed-Release Capsules, 20 mg and 40 mg, of AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals LP.

IT firm Coforge, formerly known as NIIT Technologies, on Thursday posted Q2 profit for the financial year 2023-24 at Rs 181.30 crore, up 7% in comparison to Rs 169.40 crore during the corresponding period of last year. It posted revenue from operations at Rs 2267.20 crore, up 15.7% as against Rs 1959.40 crore during the second quarter of FY23.

IndusInd Bank, HDFC Bank, Bajaj Auto, Reliance Industries, and NBCC are the most active stocks on the NSE.

Source: NSE

The share price of Wipro tanked 4.25% to Rs 390.10, a day after the company posted second-quarter profit at Rs 2,646.30 crore, down 0.5% as against Rs 2,659.00 crore during the same period last year.

HSBC Holdings Plc has nearly doubled the size of a loan arrangement to part of Indian billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s business empire, bolstering its bet on Asia’s richest person, reported Bloomberg. The London-based bank originally provided a £60 million ($73 million) loan facility to a subsidiary of Reliance Industries shortly after it acquired the Stoke Park estate in southeast England for £57 million in 2021, according to UK registry filings.

The Nifty Metal Index plunged 1.58% during the early trade on Thursday. APL Apollo Tubes, Hindalco Industries, JSL, National Aluminium Company and Jindal Steel tanked over 2% each.

“Nifty weekly contract has highest open interest at 19,800 for Calls and 19,600 for Puts while monthly contracts have highest open interest at 19,800 for Calls and 19,000 for Puts. Highest new OI addition was seen at 19,800 for Calls and 19,450 for Puts in weekly and at 19,800 for Calls and 19,700 for Puts in monthly contracts. FIIs increased their future index long position holdings by 4.93%, decreased future index shorts by 3.36% and increased index options by 30.55% in Call longs, 4.35% increase in Call short, 0.43% increase in Put longs and 24.54% decrease in Put shorts,” said Anand James, Chief Market Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.

The NSE Nifty 50 opened at 19,545.20 down 0.64%, the BSE Sensex opened at 65,484.61 down 392.42 points.

“Yesterday, spot gold closed with a gain of 1.30% at $1937. The gains came on further escalation of the middle East conflict as bombing of a hospital in Gaza that resulted in a huge death toll drew sharp reactions from leaders and people across the world. The US housing starts data were mixed. The US Federal Reserve Governor Waller told that the Fed can wait and see to decide whether further rate hikes are needed. The UK’s CPI data were hotter than expected, which dims the outlook of its economy. The Euro-zone’s inflation data were in line and rallied with the prior month’s figures. Gold is expected to be highly volatile as traders react to headlines regarding the Mideast war amid surging US yields. Traders will continue to buy the dips as they hedge the geopolitical risks. Support is at $1930, while resistance is at $1965/$1975,” said Praveen Singh – Associate VP, Fundamental Currencies and Commodities, Sharekhan by BNP Paribas.

Bank Nifty also gave in from the 44,400 zone with profit booking seen during the intraday session ending near the 43,900 levels with major frontline banking stocks showing signs of weakness. A decisive breach below the 43,800 zone shall trigger for further slide towards 43,000 with sentiment turning bearish. Bank Nifty would have

the daily range of 43,500-44,200 levels,” said Vaishali Parekh, Vice President – Technical Research, Prabhudas Lilladher.

“The USD-INR 27 October futures contract exhibited a narrow trading range. Upon analysis of the daily technical chart, it is evident that the pair is trading above its moving average trend-line support level of 83.22, and the RSI is maintaining levels above 50. While examining the technical configuration, the MACD indicates negative divergence, but the pair is sustaining itself above the 83.22 level. In accordance with the daily technical chart, the pair finds support within the range of 83.22 to 83.05, with resistance positioned at 83.45 to 83.66,” said Rahul Kalantri, VP Commodities, Mehta Equities.

“Dalal Street grapples with uncertainty as global leaders work to prevent a potential Middle East ground war triggered by Israel’s contemplation of retaliatory action following a Hamas terrorist attack. Iran’s threats have heightened tension, causing significant volatility in the benchmark Nifty. Given these developments, a cautious investment approach is advised. Specific trading recommendations include selling Nifty at the current market price with a stop at 19,907, targeting 19,507, 19,300, and more aggressive goals at 18,900,” said Prashanth Tapse, Senior VP (Research), Mehta Equities.

The NSE has added SAIL, Balrampur Chini Mills, Indiabulls Housing Finance, India Cements, Manappuram Finance, Delta Corp, GNFC, Hindustan Copper and MCX India to its F&O ban list for October 19, 2023.

Foreign institutional investors (FII) offloaded shares worth net Rs 1,831.84 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DII) added shares worth net Rs 1,469.50 crore on October 18, 2023, according to the provisional data available on the NSE.

WTI crude prices are trading at $88.10, down 0.25%, while Brent crude prices are trading at $91.10, up 0.44%, on Thursday morning.

US Dollar Index (DXY) which measures the value of the dollar against a basket of six foreign currencies traded down 0.04% at 106.53.

Wall Street’s major indexes ended lower on Wednesday. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite tanked 219.45 points, or 1.62%, to 13,314.30. The S&P 500 tumbled 58.6 points, or 1.34%, at 4,314.60, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average plunged 332.57 points, or 0.98%, to 33,665.08.