Markets may begin the week on a negative note

Indian markets may see a modestly negative opening on the back of negative indications prevailing in the global markets. There are some critical data flows coming up during the week, apart from the March series F&O expiry. The US GDP data is expected and so is India’s fiscal data. The SGX Nifty is pointing that Nifty may open around 9,991.  

Asian stocks plunged on Monday after a sell-off on Wall Street, extending the global rout as panicky investors fret over trade war between the US and China showing no signs of abating for now. Japan’s benchmark index Nikkei 225 has slipped 0.40%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng has dipped 0.23% and China’s Shanghai Composite has plunged 1.04%.    

Back home, Friday turned out to be an awful day of trade for equity benchmarks, with frontline gauges tumbling below their crucial levels, namely, Nifty (10,000) and BSE Sensex (33,000), as traders took a beating on the back of severe selling pressure in the global markets after US President Donald Trump signed an executive memorandum imposing retaliatory tariffs of $ 60 billion on Chinese imports. Among sectoral indices, Nifty IT and Nifty Media ended in the green, while Nifty Realty and Nifty PSU Bank slumped more than 3%. The broader indices Nifty Mid-cap and Small-cap slipped 1.46% and 2.17%, respectively.  

The US markets tumbled on Friday, with the main benchmarks suffering their biggest weekly losses in more than two years, as the lingering trade war concerns weighed on the markets. The Dow Jones Industrial Average tumbled 425 points to close at 23,533, a nearly four-month closing low, the tech-heavy Nasdaq plunged 174 points below its important psychological 7,000-mark to its lowest closing level in well over a month and the S&P 500 shed 55 points to end the day at 2,588.     

The European stocks closed lower on Friday, in line with losses in other global equity markets. Germany’s DAX index lost 1.77%, France’s CAC 40 index ended lower by 1.39% and UK's FTSE 100 slipped 0.44%.