A positive but muted start likely for the markets

Indian benchmark indices are likely to make a mildly positive start. The SGX Nifty is indicating that Nifty may open marginally higher by 19 points at 10,686.   

The Asian stock indices are trading mixed in a narrow band on Monday despite the strong upmove on the Wall Street. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index has surged 107 points and China’s Shanghai Composite has risen 19 points, while Japan’s Nikkei 225 index has slipped 85 points.    

Back home, the Friday's session witnessed the corrective action getting extended for the third straight session in a row. The BSE Sensex slipped below the important psychological 35,000-mark and the Nifty ended down 61 points at 10,618.  Majority of the sectoral indices ended in the red, with Nifty Pharma and Nifty Auto ending as top losers. Among the broader market indices, the Nifty Mid-cap and Small-cap slipped 0.28% and 0.34%, respectively.  

In the US, major indices bounced back in Friday’s session, thanks to the late buying on the bourses. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rallied 332 points to close at 24,262, the Nasdaq Composite index advanced 122 points to finish at 7,210 and the S&P 500 gained 34 points to end at 2,663. The share of Apple surged 3.9% on the back of the news that ace investor Warren Buffett bought 75 million shares of the tech giant in the first quarter. The jobless rate sunk to 3.9% in April, its lowest since the end of 2000, while non-farm payroll employment grew by 164,000 during the month.  

The European shares ended the last trading session of the week in the positive terrain. The DAX of Germany climbed 1.02%, CAC 40 of France added 0.26% and the FTSE 100 of UK gained 0.86%.