Markets awaiting macroeconomic data may begin on a muted note

In early action, the SGX Nifty is seen trading near the dotted line, which indicates that the Indian markets are likely to lack a clear direction and trade within a confined range throughout the day. We believe the markets will wait for direction yet again and the clarity of direction from hereon will depend upon the outcome of the macroeconomic data. The key macroeconomic data scheduled to be released today are India’s industrial production data for April and retail inflation for May. At the time of writing, the SGX Nifty was trading down by 6 points at 11,975 level.  

The Asian stock indices are seen trading mixed on Wednesday as key indices halted their winning streak on the Wall Street in overnight trading. The Japanese stock index Nikkei 225 is up by 0.02 per cent, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng is trading sharply lower by over a per cent.  

Back home, the key benchmark indices continued their northward movement for the third consecutive trading session on Tuesday. During the day, on an intra-day basis, the BSE Sensex and Nifty reclaimed the levels of 40,000 and 12,000, respectively, although in the last leg, the markets shed nearly half of their gains. In the end, Nifty and BSE Sensex settled with gains of 0.36 per cent and 0.42 per cent, respectively. In the broader market, Nifty Midcap and Smallcap indices advanced 0.68 per cent and 0.10 per cent, respectively. Among the Nifty sectoral indices, barring Nifty FMCG and Nifty Pharma, which closed in the red, all other sectors witnessed buying interest, with Nifty PSU Bank, Nifty Metal and Nifty Media being the top gainers.

The US markets started out Tuesday’s session on a positive note as sentiment remained upbeat after a report suggesting further Chinese stimulus. However, as the day progressed, the sentiment switched to the downside on the back of uncertainty of a meeting between the US President and Chinese President at the G-20 summit. At the close, markets ended the day with modest losses. The Dow closed 14 points lower, the Nasdaq edged down less than a point and the S&P slipped one point.

The European indices closed higher on Tuesday. France’s CAC 40 index advanced 0.48 per cent, Germany’s DAX jumped 0.92 per cent and UK’s FTSE 100 surged 0.31 per cent.