Sensex, Nifty 50 may see gap-up opening

Trading of Nifty 50 index futures on the Singapore stock exchange indicates that the Nifty could rise 78 points at the opening bell. Overseas, Asian stocks are mostly higher as investors reacted to the release of China’s inflation data for September. Markets in Hong Kong are closed on Thursday for a holiday. Producer inflation surged in September, official data showed Thursday. The producer price index for September soared 10.7% as compared with a year ago. China’s consumer price index also rose 0.7% in September as compared with a year ago.

Singapore’s central bank unexpectedly tightened monetary policy on Thursday. Official advance estimates also showed Thursday that Singapore’s economy grew 6.5% year-on-year in the third quarter of 2021.

In US, the S&P 500 and Nasdaq ended higher on Wednesday, led by gains in shares of big growth names like Amazon.com and Microsoft, but JPMorgan shares fell along with other bank shares and weighed on the market.

Minutes released Wednesday afternoon from the Federal Open Market Committee’s September meeting showed the central bank could begin tapering its asset-purchase program as soon as mid-November.

Consumer prices rose 0.4% last month, slightly higher than August’s gain and pushing annual inflation back to the highest increase in 13 years. The consumer price index rose 5.4% in September from a year ago, the Labor Department said Wednesday, up slightly from August’s gain of 5.3%. Excluding the volatile food and energy categories, core inflation rose 0.2% in September and 4% compared with a year ago. Core prices hit a three-decade high of 4.5% in June.