Markets may start in the red tracking negative cues from Asian peers

Indian markets are likely to make pessimistic start to the new week as cues from Asian peers are negative. Nifty 50 index futures on the Singapore stock exchange is currently trading at 10,781,  down by 45 points.  

Asian shares are a sea of red on Monday on cue with the slump in the US stocks, which ended in the red after the US imposed trade tariffs on Chinese goods and China promising to retaliate. Japan’s Nikkei 225 index has lost 0.83%. while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng and China’s Shanghai Composite are closed for holidays.  

Back home, the stock markets on Friday went on a roller coaster ride with key indices swinging both ways and touching intra-day highs in the first half and intra-day low during the afternoon session to finally settle with minuscule gains. The BSE Sensex added 23 points to close at 35,622 and the Nifty ended at 10,818,  up by 10 points. The broader market indices failed to catch up with their major counterparts, as the Nifty Mid-cap and Nifty Small-cap indices ended lower by 0.64% and 1.05%, respectively. Among the sectors, Nifty Pharma and Nifty IT ended the day with handsome gains of over 2%, while Nifty PSU Bank emerged as the top loser with loss of 2.18%.  

On the Wall Street, Friday’s volatile session saw major averages recovering from day’s low to close with modest losses. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 85 points to close at 25,090, the Nasdaq Composite Index lost 15 points to finish at 7,746 and the S&P 500 dipped 3 points to end at 2,779. The weakness on Wall Street was seen after the US President Donald Trump announced hefty tariffs worth US $ 50 billion on Chinese imports, marking the latest escalation in the trade spat between the two countries.  

The European stock markets ended Friday’s session with deep cuts amid renewed concerns over a global trade war. The DAX of Germany lost 0.74%, the CAC 40 of France fell 0.48% and the FTSE 100 plunged 1.70%.