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

Indian markets ended flat on Wednesday as profit booking set in after a firm start to the session. Attention will turn to the US initial jobless claims data due today. Analysts expect markets to remain range-bound in the near term, tracking global cues and Q2 earnings announcements.

STATE OF THE MARKETS
GIFT Nifty (Earlier SGX Nifty) signals a positive start
GIFT Nifty on the NSE IX traded higher by 61 points, or 0.24 per cent, at 25,153.50, signaling that Dalal Street was headed for a positive start on Thursday.

• Tech View: The current uptrend is likely to remain intact as long as the index stays above 24,970; the sentiment might change below 24970-24940. On the higher side, resistance is placed at 25,250 and 25,400–25,500 levels.
• India VIX: India VIX, which is a measure of the fear in the markets, rose 2.6% to settle at 10.31 levels.

US stocks end higher
Technology shares boosted U.S. stocks to a higher close on Wednesday as investors, lacking economic data during the government shutdown, looked to minutes from the Federal Reserve's most recent policy meeting for clues to the outlook for interest rates.

• Dow flat,
• S&P 500 up 0.58%,
• Nasdaq 1.12%

Asian shares rise
Asian shares rose at the open after a renewed wave of buying in companies linked to the artificial-intelligence boom sent Wall Street benchmarks to new peaks. Gold and oil edged lower on a peace deal in the Middle East.

• S&P 500 futures were little changed as of 9:15 a.m. Tokyo time
• Japan’s Topix rose 0.3%
• Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.4%
• Euro Stoxx 50 futures rose 0.7%

Oil falls
Oil prices fell in early trade on Thursday after Israel and Hamas agreed to the first phase of a plan to end the war in Gaza, weighing on oil's war risk premium and pushing investors to sell.

Dollar steady
The dollar held steady on Thursday, on track for its best week in nearly a year, buoyed by a weak yen that has struggled on the back of a change of guard in Japan's ruling party.

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 net bought shares worth Rs 81 crore on Wednesday. DIIs, meanwhile, were net buyers at Rs 330 crore.

Rupee
The rupee witnessed range-bound trade on Wednesday and settled for the day lower by three paise at 88.80 against the US dollar, tracking a negative trend in domestic equities amid a rise in risk-off sentiments.