Markets may begin weak following negative cues from Asian peers

In the early action SGX Nifty indicates the markets may begin the week on a weak note despite new highs seen on the Wall Street in Friday’s trade. At the time of writing, the SGX Nifty was lower by 12 points trading at the 11,316 level. The coming week would be crucial for the markets worldwide as fresh round of talks between the world’s two largest economies will resume in Beijing and the US Fed meeting will be concluded on July 31. The outcome of both these crucial events could set the tone for the markets in the short term. The results of BEL, DLF, Dr Reddy Laboratories will be in focus today.

A majority of the Asian markets are trading lower on Monday morning despite positive cues from the Wall Street on Friday. Market participants are seen cautious ahead of the US-China negotiations which will resume in Beijing this week. The Japanese stock index Nikkei 225 has lost 0.47 per cent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng has slipped 0.93 per cent, while China’s Shanghai Composite index is trading with modest gains.  

Back home, taking a breather after the recent fall, the markets eked out modest gains on Friday and snapped their six-day losing streak. The BSE Sensex rose 0.14 per cent to 37,883 and the Nifty gained 0.29 per cent to end at 11,284. The broader market indices ended on a mixed note with Nifty Midcap adding 0.62 per cent, while the Nifty Smallcap shedding 0.05 per cent. Talking about sectoral performance, barring Nifty IT, all other sectoral indices ended in the green. Nifty Auto, Nifty Private Bank, Nifty PSU Bank and Nifty Pharma were top gainers.

The US stocks rallied on the final trading session of the week as second-quarter GDP climbed by 2.1 per cent, surpassing economists' expectations. The tech-heavy Nasdaq and the S&P 500 closed at new record highs. The Dow finished at 27,192, up by 0.2 per cent. The coming week is a crucial one as the market participants on the Wall Street will be keeping a close watch on the Federal Reserve’s midweek decision on interest rates.

The European stocks ended higher on Friday. Germany’s DAX added 0.47 per cent, France’s CAC 40 advanced 0.57 per cent and the UK’s FTSE 100 surged 0.8 per cent.