Markets may open higher in line with Asian peers

Indian markets may open flat to slightly higher on Thursday, tracking modest gains in other Asian markets. The SGX Nifty points to Nifty opening around the level of 10,861, up by 29 points.  
  
Majority of the Asian stock markets were trading modestly higher on Thursday following the positive close overnight after initial volatility on the Wall Street. Hong Kong index Hang Seng has gained 0.18 per cent and China’s Shanghai Composite Index has surged 0.69 per cent.  
  
Back home, equity benchmarks opened the session on a negative note and made an attempt for recovery in the initial part of the trading session. However, the benchmarks saw steep fall in the second-half of the trading session and ended Wednesday’s session on a dismal note. The Nifty plunged 1.08 per cent to end below the 10,800 mark and BSE Sensex ended lower by 1 per cent below the 36,000 mark. In line with frontline gauges, the broader indices also witnessed sell-offs with NSE Mid-cap and Small-cap ending lower by 1.21 and 1.02 per cent, respectively. On the sectoral front, all the sectors ended in the red with Nifty Metal and Nifty Auto being the top losers.  
  
The US stocks after an initial setback recovered smartly to register modest gains on the first trading day of 2019 on Wednesday. Initial sell-off on Wall Street was seen as China’s manufacturing contracted, causing new fears about a slowdown in global economic growth. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.08 per cent to close at 23,346, the S&P 500 index increased 0.13 per cent to finish at 2,510 and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite gained 0.46 per cent to end at 6,666.   

The European markets finished mixed on Wednesday owing to another dose of disappointing Chinese manufacturing data that seemed to keep the fears of slowdown in global growth alive. Adding to the nervousness, Eurozone manufacturing expanded at the weakest pace since early 2016 in December. The DAX of Germany rose 0.20 per cent and the FTSE 100 of the UK gained 0.09 per cent, while, the CAC of France dropped 0.87 per cent.