Indian stock market: 10 key things that changed for market over weekend - Gift Nifty, India GDP growth to Bitcoin prices

The Indian stock market benchmark indices, Sensex and Nifty 50, are expected to open higher on Monday, following a surprise better-than-expected Q2 GDP growth, amid mixed global market cues. Asian markets traded mixed, while the US stock market ended higher last week, amid expectations of an interest rate cut by the US Federal Reserve this month. This week, participants will watch out for the key stock market triggers, including RBI policy, developments over India-US trade deal, Russia-Ukraine peace talks, auto sales data, flow of foreign institutional funds, trends in gold prices and silver prices, and other key domestic and global macroeconomic data. On Friday, the Indian stock market ended flat with a negative bias as investors awaited the release of Q2 GDP data. The Sensex fell 13.71 points, or 0.02%, to close at 85,706.67, while the Nifty 50 settled 12.60 points, or 0.05%, lower at 26,202.95. “Going forward, after making a new high, markets are expected to maintain a gradual up-move, with investors focusing on the RBI policy meeting this week,” said Siddhartha Khemka - Head of Research, Wealth Management, Motilal Oswal Financial Services Ltd. Here are key global market cues for Sensex today: Asian Markets Asian markets traded mixed on Monday ahead of fresh manufacturing data from China. Japan’s Nikkei 225 index declined 1.3%, and the Topix fell 0.72%. South Korea’s Kospi index dropped 0.66%, while the Kosdaq gained 1.29%. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index futures indicated a higher opening. Japan's two-year government bond yield rose 1 basis point (bp) to a 17-year high of 1%. The 20-year JGB yield rose 3 bps to 2.855%. Gift Nifty Today Gift Nifty was trading around 26,510 level, a premium of nearly 123 points from the Nifty futures’ previous close, indicating a gap-up start for the Indian stock market indices. Wall Street US stock market ended higher on Friday in thin trading volume during a shortened session after Thanksgiving, driven by recovery in tech stocks. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.61%, to 47,716.42, while the S&P 500 rallied 0.54%, to 6,849.09. The Nasdaq Composite closed 0.65%, higher at 23,365.69. For the week, the S&P 500 gained 3.73%, the Nasdaq jumped 4.91%, and the Dow Jones surged 3.18%. Nvidia stock price fell 1.82%, AMD shares rose 1.49%, Microsoft share price gained 1.32%, while Intel stock price jumped 10.28%. Tesla share price rose 0.84%. India-US Trade Deal India’s Commerce Secretary Rajesh Agarwal said that India is expected to sign the first tranche of the bilateral trade agreement (BTA) with the United States within the current calendar year, reported the news agency ANI. India GDP Growth The Indian economy grew by a higher-than-expected 8.2%, a six-quarter high, in the July-September quarter. India’s GDP growth rate was 7.8% in the preceding three months and 5.6% in the year-ago period. Fiscal Deficit India’s fiscal deficit for the April-October period rose to ₹8.25 lakh crore, or 52.6% of the 2025-26 budget target, compared with ₹7.51 lakh crore or 46.5% of the estimate in the year-ago period. The central government’s fiscal deficit target is 4.4% of the GDP for 2025-26. OPEC Meeting OPEC agreed to leave oil output levels unchanged for the first quarter of 2026 at its meetings on Sunday. OPEC has paused oil output hikes after releasing some 2.9 million barrels per day into the market since April 2025, Reuters reported. The group still has about 3.24 million bpd of output cuts in place, representing around 3% of global demand. Crude Oil Prices Crude oil prices rose after OPEC reaffirmed its plan to pause production hike in the first quarter of next year.. Brent crude oil rallied 0.95% to $62.97 a barrel, while the US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures gained 0.96% to $59.12. Dollar The dollar began December on the back foot. The greenback eased slightly to 99.42 against a basket of currencies. The Japanese yen rose 0.2% to 155.84 per dollar. The euro gained slightly against a weaker dollar, up 0.02% to $1.1600. Sterling was little changed at $1.3240. Bitcoin Prices Bitcoin prices fell sharply amid a broader sell-off in cryptocurrencies. Bitcoin price declined 3.86% to $87,503, while Ether price dropped 5.09% to $2,854, Tether plunged 5.07% to $2,855.03, XRP was down 5.59% to $2.08, while Solana fell 5.01% to $128.65. (With inputs from Reuters)