Market may start in the red amid negative global cues

Today, the start for the Indian markets is likely to remain weak on negative global cues and on lingering concerns of the proposed no-confidence motion against the government. Andhra Pradesh’s YSR Congress party led by Jagan Mohan Reddy has given a notice to move a no-confidence motion against the government over the issue of not giving the so-called “Special Category” status to the state. Also, being the last day of the week, traders may be cautious of carrying long positions into the next week. The SGX Nifty is indicating that the Nifty could open with modest loss of 35 points around 10,327 at the opening bell.  

Equity markets lacked direction in Asia on Friday, as was the case overnight with the US stocks. Japan’s benchmark index Nikkei 225 has slid 61 points at 21,743, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng has lost 60 points at 31,481 and China’s Shanghai Composite has added 5 points at 3,296.  

Back home, Indian equity benchmarks closed lower for the third consecutive session on Thursday. After a sluggish start to the session, benchmark indices traded in a narrow range before witnessing selling pressure in the second half of the session. The BSE benchmark Sensex ended with a loss of 150 points at 33,686 and the Nifty ended below 10,400 mark, registering a loss of 51 points. The broader indices outperformed the benchmark indices with Nifty Mid-cap and Nifty Small-cap gaining 0.39% and 0.84%, respectively.  

Majority of the US stocks closed lower on Thursday, with the Dow snapping its three-day losing streak, but the S&P 500 falling for a fourth session, marking its worst string of losses so far this year. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 116 points to close at 24,874. The S&P 500 dipped 2 points to finish at 2,747 and the Nasdaq Composite slid 15 points to end the day at 7,482.  

The European stocks bounced back to end with modest gains following two days of losses. Germany’s DAX rose 0.88%, CAC 40 of France gained 0.55% and the FTSE 100 of the UK rose 0.10%.