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Stock Market Today: Indian benchmark indices are set for a gap-up opening on Thursday, October 23, with GIFT Nifty futures trading at 26,249, up 326 points or 1.26%. The positive momentum comes after a volatile overnight session where GIFT Nifty initially surged nearly 400 points to 26,300 on India-US trade deal hopes.

The sharp Rally came after US President Donald Trump's remarks about working on a trade deal with India had initially sparked hopes that tariffs on Indian exports could drop to 15-16 per cent from the current 50 per cent.

The index is currently near its highest point ever, 26,277. Thursday's trading session will probably reveal whether bulls can maintain their momentum or if profit booking will cause the index to decline.​

Wall Street closed in negative territory on Wednesday, with all major indices ending in the red. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 334.33 points or 0.71 per cent to close at 46,611.41. The S&P 500 settled at 6,749.25, losing ground after its recent rally to record highs. In early Thursday trading, Dow Futures were trading at 46,531.70, down 58.70 points or 0.13 per cent, suggesting further weakness ahead for US equities. Corporate earnings remained in focus, with disappointing results from major companies weighing on investor sentiment and triggering a selloff in technology stocks that ultimately wiped out the gains in GIFT Nifty.​

Asian markets opened sharply lower on Thursday, tracking the negative sentiment from Wall Street. Japan's Nikkei 225 index plunged 650.31 points or 1.32 per cent to trade at 48,657.48. South Korea's KOSPI fell 10.83 points or 0.28 per cent to 3,872.85. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index declined 245.79 points or 0.94 per cent to 25,781.77.

European indices also closed in negative territory on Wednesday evening. Germany's DAX index fell 178.90 points or 0.74 per cent to settle at 24,151.13. France's CAC 40 declined 51.99 points or 0.63 per cent to 8,206.87. However, the UK's FTSE 100 bucked the trend, gaining 88.01 points or 0.93 per cent to close at 9,515.00, showing resilience amid broader market weakness.​

Abhay Shukla is a Senior Sub-Editor at Zee Business, where he covers the stock markets, corporate news, personal finance, technology, and auto sectors.

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