Stock Market Cues: Know Key Factors Likely To Affect Investor Sentiment Today

Stock Market Cues For Today: Benchmark Indices Expected to Gain

The market is likely to have a gap-up opening on December 1, with the Gift Nifty and other positive cues expected to drive gains.

Key Factors to Watch Out For:

• India's Q2 GDP Print: The second quarter of FY26 GDP stood at 8.2 per cent, marking a six-quarter high.
• India-US Trade Deal: Reports suggest that India is likely to sign the first tranche of the bilateral trade agreement (BTA) with the United States in the current calendar year.
• Crude Oil Prices: OPEC's decision to not change oil output levels for the first quarter of 2026 led to a slight rise in crude oil prices.
• Gold Rate: Physical gold prices declined marginally on December 1, after two sessions of continuous gains.

Asian Indices Trade Mixed

On December 1, key Asian indices traded mixed, with China's Shanghai Composite gaining ahead of the release of manufacturing data, while Japan's Nikkei 225 index witnessed declines amid concerns related to a near-term interest rate hike by the Bank of Japan (BoJ).

Asian Indices Performance:

• Shanghai Composite: Traded higher by 0.43 per cent or 16.79 points at 3,905.39 levels.
• Nikkei 225: Fell 1.82 per cent or 925.81 points to 49,328 levels.
• Hang Seng: Traded higher by 0.89 per cent.
• KOSPI: Traded lower by 0.13 per cent.

Crude Oil and Gold Prices:

Crude oil prices witnessed a slight rise in the early hours of December 1, with the price of West Texas Intermediate around $59.53 up by $0.98 or 1.67 per cent, and the price of Brent Crude around $63.39 up by $1.01 or 1.62 per cent.

Physical gold prices declined marginally on December 1, with the price of 24 karat gold around Rs 12,981 per gram, the price of 22 karat gold around Rs 11,899 per gram, and the price of 18 karat around Rs 9,736 per gram.