Market may open on a positive note despite negative global cues

Indian shares are expected to open modestly higher on Thursday, shrugging off weak global cues. Traders will continue to monitor rupee movement. The SGX Nifty suggests that Nifty could open higher by 39 points around the level of 11,542.  
  
The Asian markets are lacking a clear direction on Thursday following sell-off in tech shares overnight on the Wall Street. Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 index has slipped 0.23 per cent and Hong Kong’s stock market Hang Seng has dipped 0.22 per cent, while China’s Shanghai Composite has gained 0.41 per cent.   
  
Back home, on Wednesday, Indian markets extended their southward journey for the third straight day, but managed to close off day’s low. After starting the session with an uptick, the market soon pared morning gains and slipped into the negative terrain. The selling pressure intensified as rupee continued to weaken and headed towards the 72 mark against the dollar. But in the last hour of trading, bulls made a strong comeback and recouped some of the losses and the markets ended with modest losses. The broader indices ended in the red with the Nifty Mid-cap and Small-cap indices dipping 0.42 per cent and 0.25 per cent, respectively. Talking about sectoral performance, most of the sectoral indices ended in the red. The top gainers for the day were Nifty Metal, Nifty Pharma and Nifty Auto, while Nifty Realty and Nifty Media ended as top losers.  
  
The US stocks closed mostly lower on Wednesday. Of the major large-cap indices, only the Dow ended in the green, while the tech-centric Nasdaq witnessed a steep drop. Tech shares posted their worst day in over a month as Facebook and Twitter executive testify on Capitol Hill about online misinformation. The Dow Jones Industrial Average increased 23 points to close at 25,975, the Nasdaq nosedived 96 points to end at 7,995 and the S&P fell 8 points to finish at 2,887. On the economy front, the US commerce department released a report showing the US trade deficit had widened by a slightly smaller amount than expected to $ 50.1 billion in July, compared to the Bloomberg forecast of $ 50.2 billion. Going ahead, the developments on global trade are likely to remain an area of focus as well as data on weekly initial jobless claims, ADP Employment Change, service sector activity and August employment figures which are set to be released on Thursday and Friday, respectively.      
  
European markets ended Wednesday’s session firmly in the negative territory as traders turned cautious due to concerns over global trade. The DAX of Germany dropped 1.39 per cent, the CAC 40 of France weakened 1.54 per cent and the UK’s FTSE 100 declined 1 per cent. The economic news offered some mixed reports, with Eurozone retail sales in July slipping slightly more than expected, while Eurozone and UK business activity reports from Markit being revised higher to faster pace of growth than originally expected in August.