Positive opening likely on the back of firm global cues

Today, the start is likely to be on a positive side tracking firm global cues. The trading of Nifty 50 index futures on the Singapore stock exchange indicates that the Nifty may witness a gap-up opening of 51 points at 10,746.   

The markets in  Asia are trading higher on Thursday, tracking gains seen on the Wall Street. Japan’s Nikkei 225 has surged 0.88%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng has gained 0.62% and Shanghai Composite has added 0.40%.   

Back home, frontline indices ended their three-session losing streak after the RBI maintained its ‘neutral’ stance in its second policy decision of FY19. The Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI’s) monetary policy committee (MPC) voted unanimously to hike the repo rate by 25 basis points to 6.25% and adjust the reverse repo rate to 6%. This was the first rate hike by the RBI in over four years. The Nifty closed higher by 92 points at 10,685 and the BSE Sensex closed at 35,179 with gains of 276 points. In the broader market, Mid-cap and Small-cap indices outperformed the benchmark indices as these recorded gains of 1.42% and 1.73%, respectively. For a change, all the sectoral indices ended in the green, with Nifty PSU Bank, Nifty Metal and Nifty Auto being the top performers.   

Wednesday turned out to be a remarkable day of trading for the US equity benchmarks, with Dow surging more than 300 points and recording its best daily gain since mid-April and technology-centric Nasdaq logging its third straight record close. The Commerce Department released a report showing the US trade deficit had unexpectedly narrowed down to $46.2 billion in April from the revised deficit of $47.2 billion in March. The Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 346 points to end at 25,146, the Nasdaq gained 51 points to finish at 7,689 and the S&P 500 closed higher by 24 points at 2,772.  

The European markets changed little on Wednesday as the overall market sentiment was influenced by politics and comments from central bankers. The European Central Bank will begin discussing winding down its bond-buying programme when it meets next week in Latvia. The DAX of Germany advanced 0.33%; but the CAC 40 of France fell 0.06% and the FTSE 100 of UK finished higher by 0.33%.