Muted opening likely amid dull cues from Asian peers

Indian markets are likely to open largely unchanged as cues from Asian peers are dull. The SGX Nifty indicates Nifty is likely to open almost unchanged around 10,697. Ajanta Pharma, Bajaj Auto, BEL, Castrol India, ICICI Bank, Hexaware, IOC, Jubilant Foodworks, LIC Housing Finance, NTPC, Torrent Pharma will declare their results today. 
  
Asian markets are trading with modest losses on Wednesday following mixed cues from the Wall Street overnight as market participants await the start of US-China trade talks. Japan’s Nikkei 225 Index has dropped 0.53 per cent, Hong Kong’s index Hang Seng has corrected 0.06 per cent and China’s Shanghai Composite index has slipped 0.07 per cent. 
  
Back home, in a volatile trading session, the equity benchmark indices swung both ways before closing just below the neutral line. The BSE Sensex slipped 0.18 per cent to 35,593 and Nifty shed 0.09 per cent to end at 10,652. On the broader market front, Nifty Mid-cap and Small-cap indices ended with miniscule gains of 0.31 per cent and 0.18 per cent, respectively. Among the sectoral indices, Nifty Pharma and Nifty IT gained the most, while Nifty Realty ended as top loser. 
  
On the Wall Street, major indices eventually ended Tuesday’s session on a mixed note as uncertainty is festering ahead of this week’s key talks between the US and China and market participants being cautious ahead of the monetary policy decision from the Federal Reserve. On the economic front, the Conference Board released a report showing a substantial decrease in consumer confidence in the month of January. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.21 per cent, the S&P 500 Index dipped 0.15 per cent and the Nasdaq Composite declined 0.81 per cent. 
  
European markets ended Tuesday's session higher, shrugging off trade tensions between the US and China. European markets seemed to be buoyant ahead of the Brexit vote. The DAX of Germany added 0.08 per cent, the CAC of France gained 0.81 per cent and the FTSE 100 of the UK surged 1.29 per cent.