Flat start likely for the markets tracking subdued global cues

Today, the markets are likely to make a flat start as the cues from global markets are muted. The SGX Nifty suggests that Nifty could open around 11,623.  
  
Barring Hong Kong’s Hang Seng, all other Asian indices are trading with minuscule gains on Thursday as market participants look to the trade talks between the US and China even as the new US tariff on $ 16 billion of Chinese imports are set to take effect later in the day . China’s Shanghai Composite has risen 0.26 per cent and Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 index has added 0.20 per cent. On the other hand, Hong Kong's Hang Seng has slipped 0.51 per cent.  
  
Back home, benchmark indices logged gains for the third straight session on Tuesday and ended at new all-time closing highs. After witnessing positive start to the session, the indices lacked clear direction as they oscillated in a narrow range and finally ended the day with marginal gains. The broader indices ended in the positive territory with both Nifty Mid-cap and Small-cap registering gains of 0.18 per cent and 0.49 per cent, respectively. Apart from Nifty Pharma, Nifty Media and Nifty IT, all other sectoral indices ended the day in the red.    
  
On the Wall Street, the US stock indices closed mostly lower on Wednesday, with the S&P 500 and the Dow snapping a four-day winning streak, while the Nasdaq Composite index bucked the trend and ended in the green. According to minutes from the most recent Federal Reserve meeting released on Wednesday, Fed officials are poised to continue gradually raising interest rates, but Fed minutes suggest that the officials are concerned that the escalating trade wars could hurt the economy. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 89 points to finish at 25,734; the S&P 500 shed 1 point to close at 2,862, while the Nasdaq Composite Index gained 30 points to end at 7,889.  
  
The European markets eked out modest gains on Wednesday as traders seemed reluctant to make any significant moves ahead of the release of the minutes from the most recent meeting of the Federal Reserve. The DAX of Germany closed almost unchanged; CAC 40 of France added 0.22 per cent and the UK’s FTSE 100 gained 0.11 per cent.