Markets to get a mildly soft start

Today, the start of the last trading session of the calendar year, is likely to be mildly in the red. The SGX Nifty suggests that the Nifty could open at 10,506 with a loss of 3 points at the opening bell.   

The calendar year 2017 has been a historical one for our markets as the Nifty index has registered gains of about 28% and touched the magical mark of 10,500, while the BSE Sensex has surged about 27% and touched the landmark of 34,000.  

The share prices were mostly higher in Asia on Friday, lifted by positive sentiments on the Wall Street as Dow reached new record high.  Japan’s Nikkei 225 has edged up 58 points, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng has gained 54 points and China’s Shanghai Composite has added 5 points.  

Back home, markets began the day on a flat note and traded in a narrow band for the first half of the trading session. Buying interest emerged during the afternoon session, but the expiry factor played out as result of which markets witnessed volatile moves in the last leg of the trading and, eventually, ended the day with modest losses. The broader indices outperformed the benchmark indices and ended in the positive territory. The Nifty Mid-Cap and Small-Cap index gained 0.06% and 0.49%, respectively. Sector-wise, Nifty Realty surged 3.05% followed by Nifty Metal.   

The US stocks turned choppy during the trading session on Thursday, while the Dow reached a new record closing high. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 63 points to close at 24,838, Nasdaq inched up by 11 points to finish at 6,950 and the S&P 500 rose 5 points to settle at 2,688.  

The majority of European markets ended Thursday’s session with losses. The CAC 40 of France slipped 0.55%, DAX of Germany lost 0.69%, while FTSE 100 of the UK closed above the neutral line.