Flat start likely for the markets

Indian markets are likely to open flat with a positive bias. The SGX Nifty is suggesting that the Nifty could open with gains of 15 points around 10,462 at the opening bell.  

The Japanese stock market has kicked off the week on a positive note with gains of 296 points. The Hang Seng and Shanghai Composite are closed for the Lunar New Year holiday.  

Back home, markets gave away the opening gains to close near the weekly lows on Friday amid weakness in the banking stocks. The Sensex lost 287 points to settle at 34,011 and the NSE Nifty closed at 10,452 with loss of 93 points. Selling pressure was seen in broader markets as well, as Nifty Mid-cap and Nifty Small-cap declined 1.14% and 1.03%, respectively. All sectoral indices ended in the negative terrain. Nifty PSU Bank and Nifty Auto were the top losers, losing 2.49% and 1.79%, respectively.  

The US stock markets closed mixed on Friday with the Dow and the S&P 500 extending their winning streak for the sixth straight session, while the Nasdaq ended with modest losses. The volatility spiked up on Wall Street after special counsel Robert Mueller’s office revealed that a federal grand jury had indicted several Russian nationals for allegedly interfering in the 2016 presidential election. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 19 points to close at 25,219 and the S&P 500 inched up 1 point to settle at 2,732. On the other hand, the Nasdaq Composite index closed down by 17 points at 7,239.  

The European stocks ended the week in positive territory, driven largely by the positive reaction from investors to the batch of encouraging earnings reports and the easing of concerns about rising interest rates and inflation.  The CAC 40 of France surged 1.13%, Germany’s DAX rose 0.86% and the FTSE 100 of the UK inched up 0.83%.