A surge in COVID-19 cases in US becomes an ominous sign for bulls at D-Street; RBI Governor tests positive

Indian markets are likely to begin the week on a soft note as cues from the global peers are not supportive. In fact, the news of a resurge of Coronavirus cases in the West is throwing cold showers on the hopes of economic recovery. further, experts are indicating that the situation could worsen during the cold winter months, which is causing a panic situation among the market participants.

Meanwhile, on the domestic front, RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das has tested positive for Coronavirus.

SGX Nifty is trading just above the neutral line with gains of 3 points at 11,938. Today again, there would be a fight between the bulls and bears, where the bulls may try to reclaim its milestone level of 12,000 but the bears that had failed all the efforts of bulls to reclaim the 12,000 would not let them climb above the 12,000 mark and hence, the 12,000-12,040 mark would be a big hurdle for the bulls to cross.

Key results to watch out for today are as follows: Kotak Mahindra Bank and SBI Life.

The majority of the Asian markets were trading lower on Monday as Dow Futures were in red after reports emerged that in the US, there has been a rapid rise in the number of Coronavirus cases. Leading the fall in the region, China’s Shanghai Composite is down by 0.85 per cent while Japan’s Nikkei 225 is hovering around the neutral line. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng is closed for a holiday.

Consolidation is the name of the game as the Indian markets continued to consolidate in a narrow range and eked out modest gains on Friday. Nifty and Sensex settled at 11,930 and 40,685 levels i.e. up by 0.28 per cent and 0.31 per cent, respectively. The action was seen in the broader indices as they outperformed the frontline indices wherein Nifty Mid-cap and Small-cap surged 0.79 per cent and 0.62 per cent, respectively. On the sectoral front, Nifty Auto was in top gear as it jumped nearly 3 per cent while on the other hand, Nifty Realty witnessed profit booking as it lost 1.09 per cent. Indian volatility index, India VIX cooled off by 3.56 per cent to 21.83.

On Friday, the US stocks ended mostly higher with Nasdaq and S&P 500 adding 0.4 per cent and 0.3 per cent, respectively, while Dow closed just below the neutral line. The steep drop in the stock prices of Intel Corporation weighed on Dow. On a weekly basis, all three major US stock market indices ended in the red. In economic data, the preliminary Markit US Services PMI Index rose to a reading of 56, up from September’s reading of 54.6. European indices were upbeat on the final trading session of the week amid some encouraging earning announcements.