Flat opening likely following weak cues from Asian peers

The Indian markets will resume trading after a long weekend and it will again go into another holiday on Wednesday this week. Hence, we might not see much action in the markets as traders might be reluctant to take any significant positions. However, we cannot rule out stock-specific action as over 40 companies are lined up to announce their earnings today. Some of the key companies are Ajanta Pharma, Ambuja Cement, Concor, Exide Industries, Godrej Properties, Kotak Bank, Raymond and TVS Motor. Looking at the early action among Asian peers and the SGX Nifty, the Nifty may open the day flat at 11,847 levels. Traders will also keep eye on India’s infrastructure output for the month of March which is due later in the day.

Majority of the Asian markets are trading in the red on Tuesday. Hong Kong’s index Hang Seng is down by 0.39 per cent, the Japanese stock market Nikkei has lost 0.22 per cent and China’s Shanghai Composite has slipped 0.32.   

Back home, Friday turned out to be a fabulous day for the bulls with BSE Sensex and Nifty reclaiming their crucial psychological levels of 39,000 and 11,750, respectively. After starting the day on a firm note, markets rallied further in the last leg of the day to settle near the day’s high. The broader market indices ended the day in the red with Nifty Midcap and Smallcap losing 0.26 per cent and 0.11 per cent, respectively. As for sectoral performance, majority of sectoral indices ended in the green with Nifty Metal and Nifty Bank leading the gainers, while Nifty Auto, Nifty Realty and Nifty Media ending as top losers.

The US markets finished off the first trading day of the fresh week with modest gains. The Dow Industrial Average added 0.04 per cent, the S&P 500 rose 0.11 per cent and the tech-heavy Nasdaq surged 0.19 per cent. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq both marked new closing highs. In the economic news, the US commerce department report said personal income rose 0.1 per cent, with spending up by 0.9 per cent, for the month of March.  

European equities ended Monday’s session slightly higher. The UK’s FTSE 100 rose 0.17 per cent; France’s CAC 40 advanced 0.21 per cent and Germany’s DAX gained 0.10 per cent. The Eurozone economic sentiment fell to a two-year low as it fell for the tenth month in a row in April.