Flat start likely for the markets tracking mixed global cues

Indian markets are likely to make flat to positive start. Trading of Nifty 50 index futures on the Singapore stock exchange indicates that the Nifty may open with gain of 34 points at 10,455.  

Asian markets are mixed on Thursday following modest gains on the Wall Street. Japan’s Nikkei 225 has slumped 1.08%, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng is trading just above the neutral line and Shanghai Composite is trading flat.  

Back home, Indian equity benchmarks ended a dismal day of trading with a cut of 0.88% and 1.01% in Sensex and Nifty, respectively. The sentiments remained downbeat since morning as markets, after a negative start, never looked confident and extended their southward journey. In the broader market, Nifty Mid-cap and Small-cap indices lost 0.60% and 0.47%, respectively. Apart from Nifty PSU Bank, all other sectoral indices had a miserable outing, with Metal plunging 3.74% followed by Media and Realty.  

After witnessing selling pressure early in the trading session, the US stocks rebounded and climbed into positive territory on Wednesday, after the minutes from the Federal Reserve meeting suggested the US central bank was maintaining a calm attitude towards inflation. The Dow Jones Industrial Average inched up 52 points to close at 24,887, Nasdaq surged 48 points to finish at 7,426 and the S&P 500 rose 9 points to end at 2,733. 

The European markets ended Wednesday’s session firmly in the negative territory amid weak batch of European economic data and uncertainty over the political situation in Italy. The DAX of Germany plunged 1.47%, the CAC 40 of France fell 1.32% and the FTSE 100 of UK dropped 1.13%.