Asian markets opened on steadier footing on Thursday, helped along by a rebound on Wall Street the previous session and relatively stable oil prices after a volatile start to the week.
In India, the benchmark BSE Sensex gained 154.6 points, or 0.20%, to open at 76,724.95, while the Nifty 50 opened up 83.5 points at 23,997.95. Market breadth was strongly positive, with 1,913 stocks advancing against 425 declining on the National Stock Exchange. The GIFT Nifty, an early indicator of how the Nifty is likely to trade, pointed to an even stronger open, up 146.5 points. Foreign institutional investors were net buyers of Indian equities worth roughly 6,688 crore rupees on September 1, while domestic institutional investors bought a further 2,813 crore rupees worth of stock, indicating broad based demand rather than a single source of buying.
Japan's Nikkei traded broadly flat after an initially weaker start, reflecting the same calmer mood seen elsewhere in the region. The improvement followed Wall Street's rebound, where renewed buying in AI related technology stocks helped major US indexes recover from a three session decline.
Analysts pointed to crude oil showing signs of consolidation, meaning prices leveling off after recent swings, as one reason investor attention could shift toward other catalysts, particularly the US jobs report due at the end of the week, rather than remaining fixated on day to day headlines out of the Middle East.
Investors across Asia, like their counterparts in the United States and Europe, are watching Friday's US employment report for clues about the Federal Reserve's next move.
Why are Indian and Asian markets more stable than US markets this week?
Reporting attributed the calmer mood to steadier oil prices and a rebound on Wall Street the previous session, following a volatile start to the week tied to Middle East tensions.