Nifty Seen Opening Below 15,700 As US Fed Signals Rate Hikes Going Ahead

The Indian equity benchmarks are set to stage a gap down opening as indicated by the Nifty futures traded on the Singapore Exchange. The Nifty Futures on Singapore Exchange fell 103 points to 15,672 indicating that the Nifty 50 index would open below its important psychological leevel of 15,700 on weak global cues. Asian equities fell to a three-week low on Thursday after the US Federal Reserve stunned investors by signalling it might raise interest rates at a much faster pace than assumed, sending bond yields and the dollar sharply higher.

The fallout in equities was softer, but enough to push MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan down about 0.6 per cent to its lowest since late May.

Japan's Nikkei fell 1 per cent and S&P 500 futures were 0.4 per cent lower in Asian trade.

The Federal Reserve on Wednesday began closing the door on its pandemic-driven monetary policy as officials projected an accelerated timetable for interest rate increases, opened talks on how to end crisis-era bond-buying, and said the 15-month-old health emergency was no longer a core constraint on US commerce.

The dollar boasted its strongest single day gain in 15 months as 10-year U.S. Treasury yields jumped by the most since early March.

Back home, foreign institutional investors sold shares worth Rs 870 crore wand domestic institutional investors sold shares worth Rs 874 crore.

Among the individual shares, Wipro will be in focus it signed a partnership with Exaware to develop advanced engineering solutions that foster innovation in the networking industry, streamline 5G technology upgrades and open the door to future 6G compatibility.

State Bank of India will be on investors' radar as it informed exchanges that its central board will meet on June 21 to consider raising Additional Tier 1 (AT 1) capital via public offer or private placement during FY22.