Pre-market action: Here's the trade setup for today's session

Domestic markets extended their consolidation for the second consecutive session on Wednesday with Nifty closing flat at 24,334. Analysts expect the market to trade in a range-bound manner with stock/sector specific action, driven by Q4 earnings announcements.

STATE OF THE MARKETS
GIFT Nifty (Earlier SGX Nifty) signals a positive start
GIFT Nifty on the NSE IX traded higher by 35 points, or 0.14 per cent, at 24,429.50, signaling that Dalal Street was headed for positive start on Friday.

• Tech View: On the downside, immediate intraday support lies at 24,200, followed by a strong support zone between 24000 and 23800. This region aligns with the 200-day SMA and the previous monthly swing high breakout level. On the upside, 24550, which marks the 61.8% retracement of the recent decline from the all-time high, acts as a key resistance. A decisive move above this level could trigger a fresh uptrend toward the December swing high near 24800.
• India VIX: India VIX, which is a measure of the fear in the markets, rose 4.9% to settle at 18.22 levels.

US stocks advance
US stocks advanced on Thursday, with the Dow and S&P 500 posting their eighth straight session of gains after strong results from megacaps Microsoft and Meta eased concerns about artificial intelligence spending.

• Dow up 0.21%,
• S&P 500 rises 0.63%

Asian shares up
Asian stocks edged up and US equity-index futures erased losses Friday after China said it’s evaluating possible trade talks with the US.

• S&P 500 futures rose 0.2% as of 9:30 a.m. Tokyo time
• Hang Seng futures were unchanged
• Japan’s Topix rose 0.8%
• Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.3%
• Euro Stoxx 50 futures rose 0.8%

Gold set for worst week in 2 months
Gold prices were poised for their worst weekly performance in more than two months on Friday as receding trade tensions tempered safe-haven demand, while the market's focus shifted to the U.S. non-farm payrolls report, due later in the day.

Dollar gains
The U.S. dollar headed for a third-straight weekly gain as signs of progress in Washington's talks with some of its trading partners and better-than-expected data eased concerns over investments in the world's largest economy.

Stocks in F&O ban today

1) RBL Bank

Securities in the ban period under the F&O segment include companies in which the security has crossed 95% of the market-wide position limit.

FII/DII action
Foreign portfolio investors turned net buyers at Rs 50.57 crore on Wednesday. DIIs bought shares worth Rs 1792 crore.

Rupee
The rupee surged 42 paise to 84.54 against the US dollar on Wednesday as optimism around the US-India trade deal and unabated foreign fund inflows boosted investor sentiments.