Markets set to open weak amid negative cues from Asian peers

Indian shares look set to open lower on Friday following weak cues from the Asian peers. The SGX Nifty is currently at the 10,776 level, down by 50 points. Going ahead, the market participants will keep a close watch on WPI data for November, which will be released today along with the data on balance of trade in November.  The central board of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will meet today under the new Governor Shaktikanta Das and, as per the reports, the meeting is likely to review the progress made on some of the decisions taken in the last meeting.   
  
Asian shares sank in a sea of red on Friday following the mixed closing on Wall Street overnight and China's industrial output and retail sales growth for the month of November belying expectations. The Japanese stock market Nikkei 225 has dropped 1.94 per cent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng has plunged 1.52 per cent, and China’s Shanghai Composite Index weakened by 0.59 per cent.  
  
Back home, frontline indices gained ground for the third day in a row. However, in the last leg of the trading session, the markets witnessed a roller-coaster ride and closed off their day’s high. in the end, Nifty closed just shy of 10,800 mark, up by 0.50 per cent, and the BSE Sensex settled marginally short of 36,000 mark, up by 0.42 per cent. The broader Nifty Mid-cap and Small-cap indices outperformed the frontline gauges as they registered gains of 0.69 and 1.03 per cent, respectively. Talking about the sectoral performance, barring Nifty Metal, all other indices managed to end in the green with Nifty Realty and Nifty Media gaining the most.  
  
The US stocks started the session on an optimistic note on the back of news that China’s state-owned companies had bought soybean from United States and this represented the first major purchase from the US in several months and caused investors sentiments to improve due to this trade deal between the two countries. However, as the day progressed, the stocks gave up most of their gains and turned choppy. In the end, the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.29 per cent, while the Nasdaq lost 0.39 per cent and the S&P 500 dipped 0.02 per cent. On the economic front, the US labour department released a report showing a much sharper than expected drop in initial jobless claims in the week ended December 8.  
  
The European equities ended the Thursday session with losses as, in a surprising move, the European Central Bank (ECB) decided to halt its $ 3 trillion bond buying programme. The DAX of Germany slipped 0.04 per cent, the CAC of France fell 0.26 per cent and the UK’s FTSE 100 dipped 0.04 per cent.