Overnight Stock Market Movements: Key Developments 

Indian equity benchmarks Sensex and Nifty 50 are likely to open lower on Friday as overnight global markets witnessed a sell-off and investors turned cautious ahead of the RBI’s monetary policy announcement.

Asian markets declined, while Wall Street tumbled overnight due to heavy selling in technology stocks.

The Reserve Bank of India will unveil its February monetary policy later today, with the Sanjay Malhotra-led Monetary Policy Committee widely expected to hold the repo rate steady at 5.25%.

Moreover, on Thursday, the Indian stock market closed lower as investors booked profits across sectors.

Domestic Market Recap

On Thursday, Indian indices closed in the red:

• Sensex slumped by 503.76 points (0.60%) to close at 83,313.93
• Nifty 50 moved down by 133.20 points (0.52%) to settle at 25,642.80

Gift Nifty

Gift Nifty was trading near 25,585, around 140 points lower than the previous Nifty futures close, hinting at a negative start for Indian markets.

Overnight Wall Street Performance

The US stock market closed sharply lower on Thursday as losses in Microsoft, Amazon, and other technology heavyweights pushed the Nasdaq to its lowest level since November.

• The Dow Jones Industrial Average slumped by 592.58 points (1.20%) to close at 48,908.72.
• S&P 500 down by 84.32 points (1.23%), ending at 6,798.40.
• The Nasdaq Composite was lower by 363.99 points (1.59%), finishing at 22,540.59.

Gold Prices

• Spot gold was trading 0.7% lower at $4,735.99 per ounce.
• The US gold futures were lower by 2.8% at $4,752.40.

Crude Oil Prices

• Brent crude dropped by 0.74% to $67.05/barrel
• US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude was trading 0.82% lower at $62.77/barrel

Overnight Major Global Events Driving Sentiment

1. US Job Openings: US job openings fell to their lowest level in over five years in December, signalling easing labour demand. The JOLTS report showed vacancies dropped by 386,000 to 6.542 million, the weakest reading since September 2020. Employers, however, stepped up hiring, adding 172,000 jobs, taking total hires to 5.293 million, though hiring levels remained subdued.
2. ECB Policy: The European Central Bank kept interest rates unchanged for the fifth straight meeting, holding its key policy rate at 2%. The ECB paused after ending a year-long rate-cut cycle in June and flagged ongoing uncertainties from global trade policies and geopolitical risks. Despite these challenges, the central bank maintained that inflation should stabilise around its 2% target over the medium term.
3. Bank of England Policy: The Bank of England voted narrowly 5–4 to keep interest rates unchanged at 3.75%, as expected by economists. While the BoE sharply lowered its growth outlook for the year and projected higher unemployment, it signalled that borrowing costs could ease if inflation continues to decline in the coming months.

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