Indian markets likely to open on cautious note

In the early trend, SGX Nifty is trading above the dotted lines indicating a flat to positive opening for Indian markets. However, cautious would continue to prevail on the D-Street as the global cues could play a spoil sport as the markets participants assess China virus impact. At the time of writing, SGX Nifty was up by 6 points at 12,146 levels. Stock-specific action is likely to continue as today, around 50 companies including Biocon, Canara Bank, HDFC Life, PVR are scheduled to announced their Q3 earnings.

Asian markets were seen declining on Thursday. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was down by 0.89 per cent, Japan’s Nikkei 225 shed 0.64 per cent as Japanese trade data showed export falling more than expected in the month of December. Meanwhile, Chinese’s Shanghai Composite dropped 0.76 per cent.   

Back home, bears extended their losing streak for the third straight day on Wednesday as Nifty and BSE Sensex registered losses of 0.52 and 0.50 per cent, respectively. In the broader market, both Nifty mid-cap and small-cap closed marginally in the red. On the sectoral front, Nifty Media, Nifty IT and Nifty FMCG ended in green. On the flip side, Nifty Metal, Nifty Private Bank and Nifty Auto were the top losers.

As for global happenings, US equity markets opened higher on the back of positive reaction to earnings news from IBM Corp. And also, prompt steps were taken by Chinese government to contain a serious virus that has broken out there. However, markets reversed their gains and ended the Wednesday’s session on a mixed note. As earnings and/or guidance from Netflix, Johnson & Johnson and United Airlines disappointed the street. At the closing bell, Dow dipped 10 points, while Nasdaq & S&P 500 added 0.1 per cent, each. Regarding economic news, existing home sales increased more than expected. Meanwhile, European markets closed lower as the market participants were cautious ahead of European Central Bank’s monetary policy announcement due on Thursday and also, tracking comments from US President Donald Trump as he mentioned EU has ‘no choice’ but to agree with a new trade deal.