Markets may begin flat with a negative bias

With majority of the global markets under pressure and concerns that a trade deal between the US and China could be delayed, the outlook for the Indian markets is a flat start with a negative bias in early trading. At the time of writing SGX Nifty was trading with minor loss of 2 points at 11,095.  

Markets in Asia traded mostly lower on Thursday on the back of sell-off seen on the Wall Street overnight. China’s Shanghai Composite index was trading above the neutral line, while the Japanese stock market has lost 0.72 per cent and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index has shed 0.30 per cent.

Back home, Wednesday's session turned out to be a wonderful session for the equity benchmark indices as the indices registered third straight session of gains. Nifty surged 0.60 per cent above the 11,050 mark, while Sensex gained 0.53 per cent to close above the 36,600 mark. The broader markets reported healthy gains with Nifty Midcap and Smallcap moving higher by 0.58 per cent and 0.73 per cent, respectively. Among the sectoral indices, barring Nifty Media and Nifty Auto, all other indices ended the day in the green with Nifty Pharma and Nifty Realty emerging top gainers.

The US equities finished in the red on Wednesday as the economic data weighed on the Wall Street. The Dow dropped 133 points, the Nasdaq collapsed 70 points and the S&P 500 slipped 18 points. In other news, the Federal Reserve’s latest Beige Book report shows that the US economy was still growing in most parts of the US, while the US trade deficit had soared to the highest level in just over a decade.  

The European indices finished mixed in choppy trading on Wednesday as traders seemed reluctant to take any significant positions ahead of the monetary policy decision. The DAX of Germany lost 0.28 per cent and the CAC 40 ended lower by 0.16 per cent, while the FTSE 100 of the UK edged up 0.17 per cent.