Markets likely to open on a cautious note

Today, markets are likely to start on a cautious note on the back of sluggish regional cues. The SGX Nifty indicates that the Nifty could open at 10,717, almost flat at the opening bell. 

Bharti Infratel, Hindustan Unilever, Zee Entertainment, Adani Power, Adani Transmission, DCB Bank, Jubilant Life Sciences, Jyothy Laboratories, Mindtree, Srei Infrastructure Finance, Sterlite Technologies, Tata Sponge Iron, Thirumalai Chemicals are some of the key companies to announce their results today.  

Most Asian indices are down, tailing the overnight weakness in the US indices, which ended marginally down.  The Japanese stock market has lost 96 points to 23,854, Hong Kong’s benchmark Hang Seng index has slipped 85 points to 31,820, whereas China’s Shanghai Composite has gained 20 points to 3,457.   

Back home, key benchmark indices snapped three day’s gaining streak. After making a positive start, there was almost an open-high kind of situation in the initial part of the trading session and, thereafter, due to selling pressure in broader indices and index pivotals Reliance Industries, ITC and HDFC closing lower. The broader indices witnessed severe selling pressure as Nifty Mid-cap and Small-cap indices declined 1.84% and 2.48%, respectively. On the sectoral front, barring IT, all the other sectoral indices ended the session on a weak note.  

On Wall Street, all main indices hit intra-day all-time highs shortly after the opening bell, but closed lower on Tuesday. In the initial part of the session, the Dow had surged above 26,000. Biotechnology stocks showed significant downturn over the session. Energy, steel and transportation also contributed to the decline. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed lower by 10 points at 25,792, S&P 500 settled at 2,776, down by 10 points, and the Nasdaq declined 38 points to finish at 7,224.  

After moving sideways for the major part of Tuesday’s session, the European indices ended the day with little change. The euro took breather after moving in upward direction for several days, which provided some relief to exporters. The DAX of Germany rose 0.35%, CAC 40 of France added 0.08%, while FTSE 100 of the UK declined 0.17%.