Market on a slippery ground

The market outlook suggests a weaker start for the day. The main impact on investors’ sentiments in today’s session would be of fading hopes over prospects for a phase one trade deal between Washington D.C. and Beijing. FPIs extended their selling streak for the third straight day on Monday as they sold shares worth Rs. 270.66 crores in yesterday’s trade. At the time of writing, the SGX Nifty was trading down by 29 points at 11,894 levels.
 
The Asian markets are trading mixed on Tuesday as market participants turned cautious amid uncertainty over a US-China trade deal. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was up by 0.80 per cent and China’s Shanghai Composite edged up 0.14 per cent while Japan’s Nikkei 225 slipped 0.26 per cent.
 
Back home, Monday turned out to be a dull day for the benchmark indices. The markets moved in a limited range and finally settled with minuscule losses. The BSE Sensex dropped 0.18 per cent and the Nifty slipped 0.09 per cent. However, the buying interest was witnessed in the broader markets with the Nifty Midcap and Smallcap advancing 0.76 and 0.23 per cent, respectively. On the sectoral front, the mixed trend was seen with Nifty Metal, Nifty PSU Bank, and Nifty Pharma ending up as top gainers, while Nifty Auto and Nifty FMCG closed as top losers. The India VIX shot up by more than 4 per cent.
 
In overnight developments, US stocks were able to bounce off the day's lows to finish the day with modest gains. The stocks initially moved to the downside as concerns about the US trade negotiations with China took hold. A government official from China stated that the mood in Beijing about a trade deal was pessimistic. At the end of trading, the Dow closed up by 31 points, the S&P 500 rose 2 points, and the NASDAQ ended higher by 9 points. Meanwhile, the European markets closed on a mixed note.