Markets may pare losses amid some relief among Asian peers

Indian stock markets are likely to open on a flat to positive note with some bounce-back seen among Asian peers and the positive intra-day close in the previous session. The SGX Nifty is trading marginally higher by 0.3 per cent at 10308 level, indicating some relief in today’s trade. We have Hindustan Unilever and Karnataka Bank results on the plate today. TCS results came in with a mixed bag with the topline and EBUT outperforming, while the bottomline underperforming below expectations.

Asian markets have been a mixed bag in Friday’s session as the Japanese market Nikkei 225 index kicked off on a weaker note following continued overnight sell-off in the US markets, but the market has pared morning losses to some extent and is marginally down by 0.5 per cent. However, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng has opened higher and is trading half a per cent up and China’s Shanghai Composite too has bounced back to trade flat. 

Indian benchmark indices opened Thursday’s session with a gap-down as both Nifty and Sensex opened with loss of 148 and 283 points, respectively, following weak cues from the US markets. Major US indices had slumped 3-4 per cent amid sell-off ahead of the concerns over the continuous interest rate hikes by the Federal Reserve. Moreover, IMF has cautioned that if the trade war escalates, it would dampen the world economy. Due to this, Asian peers too fell sharply, ranging from 3.5 to 5.2 per cent. After a volatile session, both Nifty and Sensex closed above the opening levels, but were down by 225 and 760 points from the previous close. The broader market Mid-cap index slightly underperformed and tumbled 2.3 per cent, while the Small-cap index shed 1.4 per cent. All the sectoral indices closed in the red, with the PSU Banks leading the downfall with a loss of 5.2 per cent, followed by IT and Metal that plunged more than 3 per cent each. 

The previous day’s sell-off continued in the US markets even on Thursday  where Dow Jones Industrial Average plunged 546 points, the S&P 500 slumped 57 points and the Nasdaq Composite index tumbled 93 points. The e nergy sector declined with a sharp fall in oil prices, with the Brent oil futures shedding 3.4 per cent.  White House covered up stating that the fall was a much-required profit-booking and not a sell-off, but Trump lambasted Fed stating it had lost control and expressed disappointment over its policies. 
  
European equities ended Thursday’s session on a lower note following Wednesday’s sharp fall in the US markets that sparked weakness in the Asian markets on Thursday and tripped over to Europe. The DAX of Germany dropped 1.5 per cent, the CAC of France lost 1.9 per cent and the UK’s FTSE 100 declined 1.9 per cent.