Markets may begin on a positive note

Indian markets are likely to make a flat to positive start on the back of flat trading seen among Asian peers. The SGX Nifty suggests that the Nifty could open up by 26 points at 10,483 at opening bell.  

Bank of India, Britannia Industries, CG Power, Corporation Bank, Indian Bank, Indian Hotels, J Kumar Infraprojects, JK Tyre, GAIL, MEP Infra, Glaxosmithkline Consumer and Power Finance Corporation are some of the key companies to announce their results today.  

Asian stock markets have got off to a steady start on Monday after a late rally on Wall Street. Hong Kong’s benchmark Hang Seng index has added 93 points, China’s Shanghai Composite is trading flat, while Japanese stock market is closed for holiday.   

Back home, equity markets opened with downside gap, but thereafter, the markets recovered from the lower levels on back of bargain buying, the BSE Sensex lost 407 points to finish at 34,006 and the Nifty slipped 122 points to close at 10,455. The broader markets continued to outperform the benchmark indices as Nifty Mid-cap and Small-cap indices added 0.23% and 0.18%, respectively. Among sectoral indices, Nifty Metal and Nifty Realty ended in the green. Nifty Metal surged 1.27% and Nifty Realty added 0.35%.  

In the US, all main indices showed wild swings, but remained in the positive territory. Despite the upmove on the last trading session of the week, the major averages moved sharply lower for the week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 335 points to close at 24,196, the Nasdaq Composite Index surged 97 points to finish at 6,874 and the S&P 500 climbed 38 points to settle at 2,619.  

The European shares ended the final trading session of week on a dismal note. The CAC 40 of France ended lower by 1.41%, Germany’s DAX slumped 1.25%, while the FTSE 100 of the U.K. declined 1.09%.