September 14, 2023 / 09:13 AM IST

Sesnex Today | Deepak Jasani, Head of Retail Research, HDFC Securities:

Indian markets could open mildly higher, in line with largely positive Asian markets today and higher US markets on September 13.

U.S. stock indexes closed mostly higher on Wednesday, as investors digested the latest consumer-price index data showing inflation picked up in August, but likely not by enough to prompt a September interest rate hike by the Federal Reserve.

The data showed annual headline inflation rose 3.7% last month, slightly higher than Wall Street’s forecast of 3.6%. The consumer-price index, which measures costs across a broad variety of goods and services, rose 0.6% for the month, its biggest monthly jump in 14 months.

Meanwhile, the U.S. recorded a $89 billion budget surplus in August, compared with a deficit of $220 billion in the same month last year, the Treasury Department said Tuesday. The improvement was due to technical government accounting.

Investors pulled $15.5 billion from emerging market portfolios in August, the largest monthly outflow in a year with Chinese stocks taking a record hit in the latest sign of a shift in investor sentiment towards the world's second biggest economy, the Institute of International Finance reported.

Asian stocks rose on cautious optimism after Wall Street largely looked through a US inflation report that was in-line with estimates.

Nifty rose on September 13 to close above 20000 for the first time ever. At close, Nifty was up 0.38% or 76.8 points at 20070. Nifty advanced smartly and recovered from the losses from the previous day’s highs. The momentum in the Nifty and the broad market can continue. Nifty could stay in the 19865 - 20140 band for the near term.