Markets may open on a negative note following weak global cues

Indian markets are expected to open a tad lower on Thursday as the global sentiments are weak. The US government's debt yields added to a steep decline in March as the yield on the closely monitored 10-year treasury note dipped to a 14-month low and the US yield curve is only exacerbating matters by inverting. However, there seems to be good news from the weather office as the IMD has predicted robust monsoon in 2019 provided there is no unexpected El Nino phenomenon. Volatility is likely to be elevated in today’s session on the back of March series derivatives expiry. At the time of writing, the SGX Nifty was trading lower by 35 points at 11,411.

The Asian markets were trading in the red on Thursday as cues from Wall Street overnight were not favourable. The Japanese stock market Nikkei has dropped 1.72 per cent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index has shed 0.41 per cent and China’s Shanghai Composite index has edged down by 0.43 per cent.

Back home, during the first half of the trading session, the bulls were in the driving seat and it seemed that bulls will reclaim their recent swing high. However, in the second half of the trading, the bears stormed into the arena as key benchmark indices witnessed fierce sell-off and ended Wednesday’s session with losses. The Nifty settled lower by 0.33 per cent and BSE Sensex was down by 0.26 per cent. In contrast to benchmark indices, the broader markets ended the session in the green, with Nifty Midcap and Smallcap adding 0.36 per cent and 0.52 per cent, respectively. The sectoral indices witnessed a mixed day, with Nifty PSU Bank and Nifty Media ending as top gainers, while Nifty Pharma and Nifty Auto ending as top losers.

In a volatile trading session, the US stock markets ended Wednesday’s session with losses, but well off their low levels of the day. On the Wall Street, market participants were seen apprehensive about the global economy, as well as some possible bearish signal forming in the bond market. However, a favourable read on the trade deficit kept losses limited. At the end of the session, the Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 0.13 per cent, the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index lost 0.63 per cent and the S&P 500 Index shed 0.46 per cent.

The European markets ended Wednesday’s session on a mixed note. Financial stocks were in the limelight and posted notable gains following comments from ECB President Mario Draghi suggesting potential measures to help the banking sector cope with the impact of negative rates. Draghi also mentioned that a temporary slowdown in growth does not necessarily mean that a recession is in the offing. The DAX of Germany and the UK’s FTSE 100 settled near the neutral line, while the CAC 40 of France ended down by 0.12 per cent.