International financial centers delivered supportive early morning signals for Indian equity benchmarks on Friday, September 18, setting the stage for a resilient opening bell on Dalal Street. Following early morning GIFT indications showing mild green ticks around 10 points, domestic market participants stepped into the session supported by an overnight rally on Wall Street, where equity indexes rebounded sharply from earlier policy anxieties. While easing US sovereign bond yields and a three-day cooling phase in energy benchmarks provided near-term respite to global risk appetite, investors remain observant of ongoing geopolitical tensions across West Asia and key regional central bank policy moves.
Wall Street Mounts Tech-Led Rally as US Treasury Yields Soften to 4.93%
Overnight trade in the United States marked a decisive turnaround from initial sell-offs triggered by the Federal Reserve’s 25-basis-point hike, which lifted the federal funds corridor to 3.75%-4.00%. The blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.6 percent to settle at 51,778, the benchmark S&P 500 climbed 1.1 percent to 7,637.76, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite spearheaded the charge with a 1.7 percent surge to 26,418.30. Semiconductor and megacap technology counters rallied aggressively—led by Intel jumping 7.7 percent, AMD leaping 6.5 percent, and Nvidia adding 2.5 percent after CEO Jensen Huang projected chip shipments could double next year on relentless AI infrastructure spending. Providing further cushion to growth equities, the benchmark 10-year US Treasury yield pulled back to trade near 4.93 percent.
Crude Holds Above $100 Amid Middle East Headwinds as BOJ Rate Call Looms
Commodity counters witnessed a third consecutive day of price moderation, keeping international benchmark Brent crude hovering within the $102 to $104 per barrel range while US WTI oscillated near $100 per barrel. Despite the minor price correction easing near-term imported inflation concerns for Asian economies, energy risk premiums remain elevated after US President Donald Trump signaled readiness for decisive actions regarding Iran, keeping traders cautious about cross-border escalation. Concurrently, European central banks struck a cautious stance, with the Bank of England holding benchmark rates steady at 3.75% in a 6-3 vote while pausing gilt sales for six months. Across Asian corridors, market participants have focused their attention on the Bank of Japan’s policy trajectory, parsing monetary guidance following its widely anticipated 25-basis-point tightening cycle.