Trends on SGX Nifty indicate a flat opening for the index in India with a 4 points loss

The Indian stock market is expected to open on a cautious note as trends on SGX Nifty indicate a flat opening for the index in India with a 4 points loss.

The BSE Sensex declined 340.60 points to close at 49,161.81 on May 11 while the Nifty50 slipped 91.60 points to 14,850.80.

The Nasdaq Composite ended little changed, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 1.4%. The S&P 500 fell 0.9%, off a one-month low struck earlier Tuesday.

Asian Markets

Asian shares languished near one-month lows on Wednesday as investors speculated surging commodity prices and growing inflationary pressure in the United States could lead to earlier rate hikes and higher bond yields globally.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan eased 0.1%, after tumbling 1.6% on Tuesday for its biggest daily percentage drop since March 24. Japan's Nikkei rose 0.6%. Australia shares skidded 0.4% while South Korea's KOSPI index slipped 0.1%.

India's gross domestic product (GDP) forecast for the current financial year 2021-22 has been significantly slashed by rating agency Moody's to 9.3 per cent from its earlier projection of 13.7 percent.

Promoters pledged shareholdings dip to 1.64% in Q4 from 2.09% in Q3: Report

Faster-than-expected recovery from the pandemic induced disruptions and the resultant improvement in balance sheets in the second half of FY21 have helped India Inc promoters to redeem their pledged shares, according to a brokerage analysis. The pledged holding of the BSE-500 index shows that the value of pledged promoter holdings as a percentage of promoter holding declined to 1.64 in the March quarter from 2.09 in the December 2020 quarter, according to a Kotak Institutional Equities analysis.

Key economic data for April, May not to be affected as compared to last year: Pronab Sen

Key economic data on industrial output and inflation to be released for April and May will not be as incomplete as the same period last year since there is no national lockdown this time and economic activity is sustaining, former Chief Statistician Pronab Sen said

However, data which cannot be gathered over the phone and requires field visits will be affected, like the Labour Bureau survey and the planned overhaul of consumer price index-based inflation, Sen added.

Oil prices rise on nagging fears of fuel shortages

Oil prices rose on Tuesday, as lingering fears of gasoline shortages due to the outage at the largest U.S. fuel pipeline system after a cyber attack brought futures back from an early drop of more than 1%.

Brent crude futures rose 35 cents, or 0.5%, to $68.67 a barrel by 1:43 p.m. EDT (1743 GMT). U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures rose 49 cents, or 0.8%, to $65.41.

FII and DII data

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) net sold shares worth Rs 336 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) net sold shares worth Rs 676.67 crore in the Indian equity market on May 11, as per provisional data available on the NSE.

Stocks under F&O ban on NSE

Four stocks - Canara Bank, NALCO, Punjab National Bank and Sun TV Network - are under the F&O ban for May 12. Securities in the ban period under the F&O segment include companies in which the security has crossed 95 percent of the market-wide position limit.