Markets may open with a gap-up following positive global cues

The pace and intensity of the upmove in the markets after the announcement of election date has taken most people by surprise. All eyes will be on macro data such as IIP for the month of January and inflation rate for the month of February, which are scheduled to be released today. The outlook for the day is a gap-up start as cues from the across the global are encouraging. However, a very important dilemma in the minds of the the investors would be whether ‘to board a running train or alight from it'. For the current momentum to sustain, a close above 11,260 level is crucial for the Nifty. At the time of writing, the SGX Nifty indicates that Nifty may open with a gain of about half a per cent at 11,264.

Asian markets were seen advancing on Tuesday following strong close on the Wall Street overnight. Japanese stock market index Nikkei was up by 1.81 per cent, China’s Shanghai Composite index was higher by 1.42 per cent and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index was up 1.28 per cent.

Back home, Monday turned out to be a marvellous day as the indices registered gains of over a per cent. The indices opened the day with gains and witnessed a secular upmove to close around the day’s high. The Nifty surged 1.20 per cent to 11,168 and BSE Sensex jumped 1.04 per cent to close above the important psychological mark of 37,000. The broader indices outperformed the benchmark indices as Nifty Midcap and Smallcap soared 2.14 per cent and 2.38 per cent, respectively. Talking about sectoral performance, barring Nifty IT, all other sectoral indices ended in the green, with Nifty Metal and Nifty PSU Bank ending as top gainers.

The US stock markets started the new week on an optimistic note with major indices moving firmly in the positive terrain. However, the Dow underperformed its counterparts with pressure coming from the stock of Boeing, which witnessed a steep drop in price. The optimism on the Wall Street was seen following a rebound in retail sales, which rose 0.2 per cent during the month of January, which was better than expected. The Dow gained 0.79 per cent, the Nasdaq climbed 2.02 per cent and the S&P 500 rose 1.47 per cent.

The stocks in European markets finished higher to kick off the week as market participants look forward to the big vote on a Brexit deal by the UK lawmakers on Tuesday. The DAX of Germany advanced 0.75 per cent, the CAC 40 edged up 0.66 per cent and the FTSE 100 of the UK rose 0.37 per cent.