Markets to end the week on a positive note

Market participants will have to deal with mixed signals in the global markets as they head for the last trading session of the week. US markets closed in red and in early hours of trade, Asian markets are trading in green. As far as Indian markets are concerned, they will follow Asian markets. At 8:15 AM, SGX Nifty is trading 82.50 points above its previous day’s close. Though in the last few trading sessions the market has remained volatile, but it managed to close in green. Nifty is trading in the range of 10,550 – 10,850. The level of around 10,850 will act as a crucial resistance as recent highs were made at this point. Whereas, the support is placed at 10,630 levels. Having said that, the volatility has increased in the last few trading sessions and this does not portend well for the market.

The companies from S&P BSE 500 that reported their quarterly earnings on Thursday, were on the expected lines and hence there was no firework. Today, major companies such as HCL Technologies, Britannia Industries and ICICI Lombard General Insurance Company are slated to report their result for the first quarter of FY21. These earnings announcements are likely to induce stock-specific volatility.

Post a fall registered on Wall Street in the last trading session of the week, Asian indices were trading in the green on Friday. Japan’s Nikkei 225 is trading marginally in green and is up by 0.01 per cent. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng and China’s Shanghai Composite hopped by 0.84 per cent and 0.61 per cent, respectively.

Asian Markets

Despite all the negative cues from global peers, key domestic indices gained strength on Thursday. At closing bell, Nifty ascended 1.15 per cent to settle at 10,739.95, whereas S&P BSE Sensex settled 420 points higher at 36,471. This gain was attributed to IT index as it posted good earnings in general and Infosys in particular. For Sensex, more than 60 per cent of the gain was exclusively due to substantial rise in the share price of Infosys.

In the broader market, mid-cap indices ended their four-day losing streak to close with modest gains of 0.71 per cent. Whereas, small-cap indices continued with their losing streak for the third consecutive session to close with fall of 0.13 per cent. On sectoral front, Nifty IT-led from the front as it gained 4.14 per cent followed by Banking Index. On the other hand, BSE Telecom drowned the most as it slides 1.52 per cent. India VIX shed 3.53 per cent to settle at 25.36.

On Thursday, amid increasing number of confirmed COVID-19 cases of more than 35 lakhs in the US, market participants pressed the sell button on Wall Street. Further, the concerns of lockdown are making the market nervous. This also raises a question about the global economy’s recovery from the pandemic. Moreover, the initial weekly jobless claims surged 1.3 million in the week ending on July 11 as against the economist's expectation of 1.25 million. European Indices too closed in red on Thursday.

US Markets

Europe Markets

Commodity