Markets likely to witness a gap-up opening

Indian markets are expected to make an optimistic start on the back of firm global cues. The SGX Nifty suggests that the Nifty may open at 11,129 with a gap-up of 55 points. 

Astra Microwave, Century Textiles, Emami, HDFC, Tech Mahindra, IDFC, Himadri Speciality Chemicals, Inox Leisure, Laurus Lab, Nava Bharat Ventures, Wockhardt are some of the key companies to announce their results today.  

Asian stock markets are trading firmly in positive territory on Monday on the back of record closing on Wall Street. Japan's Nikkei 225 has risen 117 points to 23,749, Hong Kong’s benchmark Hang Seng has moved higher by 164 points to 33,318 and China’s Shanghai Composite has jumped 28 points to 3,586.  

Back home, frontline indices snapped a six-day winning streak as traders preferred to take profit of the tables ahead of the long weekend. However, the benchmarks managed to hold their important psychological levels Nifty (11,000) and BSE Sensex (36,000). After surging for two consecutive trading sessions, shares of public sector banks came under hammering as Nifty PSU Bank index plummeted over 5%. On the other hand, Nifty Pvt Bank index ended the session higher by 1.04%. The broader indices underperformed the benchmark indices as Nifty Mid-Cap and Small-Cap shed 0.84% and 0.86%, respectively. 

In the US, all the main benchmark indices reached new record closing highs on Friday. The optimism on Wall Street came in after latest round of strong earnings reports, including from Intel and AbbVie. The strong earnings enabled investors to shrug off a reading on economic growth that came in below expectations. The GDP increased by 2.6% in the fourth quarter as compared to the 3.2% growth in the third quarter. The economists had expected GDP to climb by 3%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 219 points to close at 26,612; the Nasdaq spiked 95 points to settle at 7,506 and the S&P 500 added 32 points to finish at 2,872.  

The European indices ended Friday’s session in positive terrain. However, the upmove in the euro and the British pound against the dollar kept the upside in check. Germany’s DAX gained 0.31%, CAC 40 of France surged 0.88% and FTSE 100 of the UK climbed 0.65%.