Markets may begin on a weak note amid negative cues from Asian peers

Markets in India are expected to witness a shaky start as cues from Asian peers are negative. The US-China trade tariffs will become effective from today and, as per media reports, China has even refused to sit down on the negotiating table with the US. On the domestic front, traders will keep a watch on rupee, but the debt markets will be closely watched and this is where most of the cues will come from. The SGX Nifty is trading down by 23 points at 11,148, indicating negative start for the day.  
  
Asian markets were trading lower in the morning on the first trading day of the week as Trump’s $200 billion tariffs on China will become effective from Monday. This will be the single biggest imposition of trade tariffs in recent years, while China has also imposed counter tariffs on the US and has, in fact, scrapped the planned trade talks with the US and is reportedly unlikely to sit down on the negotiating table with the US. The markets in China and Japan are closed for public holiday. Hong Kong’s stock market Hang Seng has lost 1.24 per cent.  
  
Back home, key equity indices extended their southward journey for the fourth day in a row. Benchmarks recouped most of the losses after tumbling over 3 per cent in the afternoon session on panic-selling in banking and housing finance stocks. The BSE Sensex settled below the 37,000 mark and the Nifty settled below 11,150 mark. The broader indices succumbed to selling pressure with Nifty Mid-cap and Small-cap plummeting 2.49 per cent and 3.69 per cent, respectively. On the sectoral front, all the sectoral indices ended the day in the red with the Nifty Realty and Nifty Pvt Banks losing the most, i.e. 3.51 per cent and 3.45 per cent, respectively.  
  
On the final trading day of week, the US stocks got off to a fruitful start in the morning, but as the day progressed, the stocks turned in relatively lacklustre performance and were off from the day’s high level. Despite this, the Dow Jones Industrial Average scaled yet another new record closing high, gaining 87 points to close at 26,744; while the S&P 500 Index was off 2 points to finish at 2,930 and the Nasdaq Composite Index edged down 41 points to end at 7,987.  
  
The European indices ended Friday session firmly into the positive territory. The Eurozone private sector grew at the second-weakest rate since late-2016 on subdued growth in manufacturing activity in September, survey data from IHS Markit showed. The DAX of Germany rose 0.85 per cent; the CAC 40 of France increased 0.78 per cent and the UK’s FTSE 100 advanced 1.67 per cent.