Markets may open in positive terrain despite negative global cues

India equity markets are expected to open with modest gains. The SGX Nifty Index Future, which was up by 35 points, indicates Nifty may open around the level of 10,640. Among Nifty companies, Grasim and Mahindra and Mahindra will report their earnings today.  
  
Majority of Asian markets are trading with modest losses on Wednesday following lacklustre overnight cues from the Wall Street and the persistent tumble in crude oil prices. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng has slipped 0.56 per cent; China’s Shanghai Composite Index has dropped 0.40 per cent and the Japanese stock market Nikkei 225 has weakened 0.12 per cent,   
  
Back home, after opening the session with a negative bias on the backdrop of weak global cues, key benchmark indices moved in a corridor of uncertainty for a major part of the session. However, bulls came out with all guns blazing in the last leg of trading and both Nifty and BSE Sensex closed with gains of almost 1 per cent. The broader indices underperformed the frontline indices as Nifty Mid-cap and Small-cap ended with minor gains of 0.29 and 0.33 per cent, respectively. Among sectoral indices, mixed performance was seen with Nifty Private Banks and Nifty Financial services ending as top gainers. On the flip side Nifty Pharma lost 1.41 per cent.  
  
The US stocks began Tuesday’s session with modest gains after reports suggested that the US and China resumed trade talks and trade issues between the economic giants might finally ease. However, the move was shortlived as major averages traded choppy and finally ended the day on a mixed note as falling oil prices began to raise concerns over a potential slowdown in global growth. The Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 0.4 per cent; the S&P 500 dipped 0.2 per cent, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq closed almost unchanged.  
  
A majority of the European indices ended in the green on Tuesday amid reports of progress in the Brexit negotiations and trade concerns appearing to cool after resumption of trade talks between the US and China. The DAX of Germany rose 1.30 per cent, the CAC of France climbed 0.85 per cent and the UK’s FTSE 100 added 0.01 per cent.