Market may extend its recent gains

The last week was a fabulous one for the bulls as the key benchmark indices closed in positive terrain on all trading sessions of the week. The bulls like to carry the positive baton from last trading week and the Indian markets are set to start the week on a positive note on the back of a strong close on Wall Street in Friday’s trade and also, cheerful cues from Asian peers are helping the cause. As I write this, the SGX Nifty is trading higher by 27 points at 11,964 levels. With the Sensex above the psychological 40,000 level, the onus will now be on the Nifty to reclaim its important psychological 12,000 level. on the corporate earning front, the prominent companies, which are scheduled to report their earning today, are HDFC, SRF, BEL, and VBL.
 
The Asian markets were trading in the green on Monday on hopes that the trade war resolution between the US and China should happen sooner rather than later. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng has surged 1.16 per cent and China’s Shanghai Composite was up by 0.57 per cent. Meanwhile, the markets in Japan were closed due to a holiday.
 
Back home, on Friday, the Indian markets eked out modest gains, with the Sensex and the Nifty being up by 36 points and 13 points, respectively. However, it was a trend-less day as the key benchmark indices traded in a capped range. Nonetheless, bulls continued its northward journey for the sixth day in a row. The broader market outperformed the frontline gauges, with the Nifty Midcap and Smallcap, rising 0.37 and 0.77 per cent, respectively. Talking about the sectoral indices performance, barring Nifty Auto and Nifty IT, all other sectoral indices witnessed buying interest. Nifty Media and Nifty Metal were amongst the top two gainers.
 
On the global front, too, the markets were buoyed on Friday, with the NASDAQ and the S&P 500, reaching new record closing highs as the better-than-expected October job growth, along with a solid upward revision to job growth in September and August, got the ball rolling. Further, the recent reports, suggesting that the US and China are making progress in trade talks, helped to bolster the sentiment. At the closing of trade, the Dow surged 1.1 per cent and the S&P and the NASDAQ Composite rose 1 and 1.1 per cent, respectively. European indices, too, had a good outing, which was boosted by better-than-expected Chinese manufacturing data and the US jobs report.