FX.co ★ Indian Markets Closed For Mahashivratri

Indian financial markets are observing a closure today in lieu of the festival, Mahashivratri.

In a rather inconstant session yesterday, the standard stock indexes in India, Sensex and Nifty, concluded the day on a neutral note. Simultaneously, the Indian Rupee scored slightly higher than the US dollar at 82.78, registering its fourth consecutive weekly ascendency.

Asian markets mirrored a positive trend observed on Wall Street after the Federal Reserve's Chair, Jerome Powell, indicated that rate slashes are plausible and likely to commence later this year. The dollar index remained relatively stable. In contrast, oil and gold experienced slight drops in anticipation of the forthcoming US jobs report.

Boosted by Jerome Powell's assertion to the US Senate committee about the central bank's increasing confidence in controlling inflation, and hence cutting interest rates, stocks rose in the US market. The ten-year yield had its lowest closing value in a month.

In the economic data, weekly unemployment claims remained the same, whereas the US trade deficit in January expanded more than what was initially projected. On the other hand, labour costs' rise in the Q4 was lesser than the expected value. However, the last quarter showed considerable growth in worker productivity.

The S&P 500 relished a 1% growth, reaching a record-high closing figure. Tech-focused Nasdaq Composite experienced a 1.5% jump, and the Dow marginally rose by 0.3%.

Being influenced by the European Central Bank's decision to decrease its annual inflation projection and to postpone any rate cuts until June, European stock concluded on a solid note on Thursday. The pan-European STOXX 600 ascended by 1%, whereas the German DAX grew by 0.7%. At the same time, France's CAC 40 and the UK's FTSE 100 increased by 0.8% and 0.2%, respectively.