Markets likely to open with a gap-down following negative global cues

Indian stocks are likely to witness a gap-down opening as the leads from Asian peers and the Wall Street are disappointing. The Dow closed at its three-month lows in overnight trading and gave away year-to-date gains. Talking about Indian markets, volatility will remain embedded in the markets owing to the expiry of the October derivative series. The SGX Nifty is trading with a loss of over 100 points and indicates Nifty may open around the level of 10,136. Among Nifty 50 companies, Bharti Airtel, Maruti Suzuki, Yes Bank and JSW Steel will be announcing their quarterly earnings today.  
  
Asian stocks have tumbled on Thursday following a fierce sell-off on the Wall Street overnight amid disappointing corporate earnings and economic data. The Japanese stock market Nikkei 225 has slumped 2.88 per cent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng has declined 2.03 per cent and China’s Shanghai Composite Index has lost 1.41 per cent.  
  
Back home, after being hammered by the bears for four consecutive trading sessions, the bulls made a strong comeback and ended Wednesday’s session with solid gains. The Nifty jumped 78 points and the BSE Sensex climbed 187 points to close above their important psychological levels of 10,200 and 34,000, respectively. The broader market outperformed the benchmark indices as both the Nifty Midcap and Smallcap rose 1.31 and 0.98 per cent, respectively. Talking about sectoral performance, barring Nifty Pharma, all other indices closed with gains, with Nifty Realty emerging as the top gainer.   
  
In the US, Wall Street finished the day in a sea of red on Wednesday amid negative reaction to the latest batch of earnings from several big-name companies and new home sales for September falling more than expected. The Dow dropped to its lowest closing level in over three months, while the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 ended close to their five-month low closing. At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average plunged 608 points, the S&P 500 fell 85 points and the Nasdaq nosedived 329 points.     
  
The European stocks ended the Wednesday's session lower after giving up early gains amid Eurozone private sector activity growing at the slowest rate for over two years in October, German private sector growth falling to its lowest in more than three years and France’s factory confidence dropping for a second straight month in October. The DAX of Germany lost 0.73 per cent, the CAC of France declined 0.29 per cent and the UK’s FTSE 100 dipped 0.11 per cent. Going ahead, all eyes will be on the European Central Bank monetary policy meeting which is scheduled later today.