Muted opening likely following weak cues from Asian peers

The Indian markets are likely to open soft on the back of weak cues from Asian peers and depressing close on Wall Street overnight. The SGX Nifty indicates Nifty is likely to open around 10,662, down by 25 points. Some of the key companies such as Axis Bank, Bajaj Finserv, Bajaj Finance, Bank of Baroda, Bharat Financial, Godrej CP, HCL Tech, HDFC, MGL, STAR will report their earnings today. 
  
The stocks in Asia are trading in the red on Tuesday following weak close on Wall Street overnight. Japan’s Nikkei 225 index has shed 0.86 per cent, Hong Kong’s index Hang Seng has lost 0.42 per cent and China’s Shanghai Composite Index has dipped 0.20 per cent. 
  
Back home, bears took total control on Monday with key indices witnessing sharp sell-off as Nifty and BSE Sensex tanked 1.10 and 1.02 per cent, respectively. The selling was seen across the board. The broader indices ended the day firmly in the red with Nifty Mid-cap and Small-cap plunging 2.10 and 1.76 per cent, respectively. Talking about the sectoral performance, barring Nifty Media and Nifty IT, all other sectors ended in the red with Nifty Pharma and Nifty Pvt Bank losing over 2 per cent. 
  
The US stocks finished the first trading session of the week firmly in the negative territory on the back of disappointing earnings report and guidance from the Dow member Caterpillar and a warning from Nvidia Corp. The Dow Jones Industrial Average tumbled 0.84 per cent, the S&P 500 Index slipped 0.78 per cent and the Nasdaq Composite plunged 1.11 per cent. 
  
European equities ended Monday’s session lower. The DAX of Germany declined by 0.63 per cent and the CAC of France lost 0.76 per cent and the FTSE 100 of the UK ended down by 0.91 per cent.