Markets may begin on a muted note tracking mixed cues from Asian peers

The outlook for the day is a quiet start with a positive bias as Asian peers are trading mixed. Investors will keep an eye on the rupee-dollar movement and any further weakness could lead to concerted selling by FPIs. Nifty 50 index futures on the Singapore stock exchange is currently trading marginally higher at 10,599.   

Indices across Asia are seeing a mixed trend, but the overall mood is cautious. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng has got off to a good start as it has surged over 180 points, while Japan’s Nikkei 225 index and China’s Shanghai Composite were down by 86 points and 4 points, respectively.  

Back home, the June series expiry session began on a cautious note and, thereafter, the frontline indices remained under selling pressure as anxiety spread amongst investors amid rising trade war concerns and crude oil prices and the Indian rupee hitting record low of 69 against the US dollar. Further, in the last leg of the trading, selling pressure got intensified and BSE Sensex concluded the session at 35,037, down 0.51% and the Nifty slipped 0.77% to close at 10,589. Magnifying the previous day’s losses, the broader indices Nifty Small-cap and Mid-cap plunged 1.86% and 1.97%, respectively. Among sectoral indices, the Nifty Realty lost the most as it was down by 2.21%, followed by Nifty PSU Bank which slipped 1.95%, while Nifty Metal ended up by 0.14%.

The US stock markets ended Thursday’s session in the green with broad-based gains, led by a rally in financial and technology stocks. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 98 points to finish at 24,216, the S&P 500 index rose 17 points to close at 2,716 and the Nasdaq Composite Index surged 59 points to end at 7,504. On the economic front, the gross domestic product increased by 2 per cent in the first quarter, which was less than the earlier estimated  growth of 2.2 per cent. A separate report from the US Labour Department showed a bigger-than-expected increase in initial jobless claims in the week ended June 23.  

Thursday turned out to be disappointing session for the European markets as these ended the session firmly in the negative territory. Traders turned cautious as European leaders gathered for the two-day meeting in Brussels to discuss migration, Brexit and euro reform. The DAX of Germany tumbled 1.39%, the CAC 40 of France declined 0.97% and the UK’s FTSE 100 fell 0.08%.