Gap-up opening likely as global cues are positive

Indian benchmark indices are likely to open with a gap-up largely in tandem with the firm trend in other Asian bourses as investors cheered the news that Donald Trump and Xi Jinping have agreed to a temporary truce on the trade war. On Friday, the GDP data released after market hours  indicated that the Indian economy growth slowed to 7.1 per cent in the September quarter. Auto stocks will be in focus today as companies released monthly sales figures over the weekend.  The SGX Nifty Index Future was trading higher by 73 points at 10,983. Data to be watched today would be Nikkei Indian Manufacturing PMI for November.  
  
Asian markets edged higher on Monday following positive cues from the Wall Street on Friday following the announcement of 90-day truce between the US and China on trade tariffs. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng has soared 2.64 per cent, China’s Shanghai Composite Index has climbed 2.35 per cent and the Japanese stock market Nikkei 225 has surged 1.37 per cent.   
  
Back home, benchmark indices started off the final trading session of the November month with high optimism. However, as the day progressed, bulls appeared a bit weary and, as a result, indices erased some of their gains and ended Friday’s session on a flat note.  But the markets continued their winning streak for the fifth successive day. The BSE Sensex gained 0.07 per cent to close at 36,194 and the Nifty ended at 10,877, up by 0.17 per cent. The broader indices outperformed the benchmark indices with Nifty Mid-cap and Small-cap gaining 0.63 per cent and 0.73 per cent, respectively. On the sectoral front, Nifty Realty and Nifty Pharma were top gainers, and on the flip side, Nifty PSU Bank and Nifty Metal ended as top losers.   
  
In the US, after starting the session on a choppy note on Friday, the stocks rebounded sharply and ended the day with decent gains. At the end of the day, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.79 per cent, the S&P 500 advanced 0.82 per cent and the tech-heavy Nasdaq climbed 0.79 per cent. In the economic news, the Chicago PMI increased to 66.4 for the month of November and this was better than expected.  
  
The European markets ended Friday’s session with losses as market participants eyed the congregation of major world leaders at the G20 summit in Argentina. The DAX of Germany dipped 0.36 per cent, the CAC of France fell 0.05 per cent and the UK’s FTSE 100 weakened 0.97 per cent.