Markets expected to open in the red tracking negative global cues

Indian indices are likely to open lower on Friday, following the overnight rout on Wall Street. In the recent past, Indian equity markets have showed remarkable resilience compared to its peers and has maintained its momentum. However, ahead of the Christmas holiday season, we suggest traders to remain light on the markets and focus on stock-specific approach. The SGX Nifty indicates Nifty may open around the level of 10,962, down by 0.29 per cent.  
  
Asian stocks have slumped on Friday as they took cues from the Wall Street, with major indices tumbling to their lowest levels in over a year. The Japanese stock market Nikkei 225 has weakened 1.72 per cent; China’s Shanghai Composite index has slipped 0.98 per cent and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng has declined 0.81 per cent.   
  
Back home, halting its seven-day long jubilant run, the equity benchmark indices ended Thursday session with modest losses. After opening the session with a gap-down, the benchmark indices showed tremendous resilience and, in the second half of trading session, trimmed most of their losses to end with minor losses. The NSE Nifty closed at 10,952 and BSE Sensex closed at 36,432 with losses of 0.14 per cent each. The broader market indices Nifty Mid-cap and Small-cap outperformed the benchmark and closed with gains of 0.12 and 0.42 per cent, respectively. All the sectoral indices ended in the red on the NSE, except Nifty Pharma, Nifty Auto and Nifty Private Bank.  
  
The US stocks ended sharply lower on Thursday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average tumbled 1.99 per cent, the tech-heavy Nasdaq plummeted 1.63 per cent and the S&P 500 lost 1.58 per cent. In the economic news, initial jobless claims rose to 214,000, an increase of 8,000 from the prior’s week’s unrevised 206,000 figure. The Conference Board’s Index of Leading Economic Indicators for November increased 0.2 per cent month-over-month.   
  
The European stock markets tumbled on Thursday as market participants had their first opportunity to react to the US Fed decision on the interest rates. Meanwhile, The Bank of England (BoE) unanimously decided to keep the bank’s main interest rate unchanged at 0.75 per cent. BoE warned that Brexit uncertainty has “intensified considerably” as no-deal concerns remain in view and banks expect inflation to fall below its 2 per cent target soon on the back of falling oil prices. The DAX of Germany sank 1.78 per cent, the CAC of France dropped 1.44 per cent and the UK’s FTSE 100 declined 0.80 per cent.