Negative global cues hint at sluggish start for the markets

Indian markets are likely to make a negative start amid sluggish global cues. The traders will react to the May inflation and April IIP data. April IIP came in at 4.9% and Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose to a four-month high of 4.87% in May on higher cost of fuel and increase in prices of food articles. Nifty 50 index futures on the Singapore stock exchange is currently trading with a loss of 23 points at 10,823.  

Majority of the Asian stock markets were trading lower on Wednesday. Barring Japan’s Nikkei 225, which has gained 0.25%, other major indices in Asia were in the red. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index has slipped 0.52% and China’s Shanghai Composite has shed 0.39%. 

Back home, after a positive start to the session, sentiments remained upbeat throughout the day with frontline indices closing Tuesday session near their crucial levels of 35,700 for the  BSE Sensex  and 10,850 for the  Nifty. In the global news, the historic meet between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un turned out to be positive, with North Korea agreeing to denuclearisation. The broader indices ended in the green, with the Nifty Mid-cap and Small-cap indices gaining 0.85% and 0.69%, respectively. The top gaining sectoral indices on the NSE were Nifty Pharma (2.58%) followed by Nifty PSU Bank (2.33%), while Nifty Metal was the lone loser that ended with a loss of 0.43%.  

The US stocks witnessed lack of direction over the course of trading and eventually ended Tuesday’s session on a mixed note. The tech-heavy Nasdaq reached a new record closing high. The muted performance on Wall Street came as traders were reluctant to make any significant move ahead of monetary policy announcements by the Federal Reserve. The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 2 points to close at 25,321, while the Nasdaq Composite rose 44 points to finish at 7,704 and the S&P 500 added 5 points to end at 2,787.  

The European bourses ended Tuesday’s sessions just below the neutral line as traders were in a cautious mood ahead of the European Central Bank, which is slated to meet on June 14. The DAX of Germany closed unchanged, the CAC 40 of France lost 0.38% and the FTSE 100 declined by 0.44%.