Positive start likely on the back of better-than-expected GDP growth

Indian markets are expected to witness a positive start despite the wobbly global cues, as traders will be reacting to GDP numbers which were released post market hours on Friday. The economy grew at a rate of 8.2 per cent, beating the analyst expectations. On the other hand, the first casualty of the Kerala floods was visible in the auto sales numbers for August with Maruti surprisingly seeing a 3.4 per cent fall in sales in August due to the flood effect, while the second largest car player, Hyundai, also saw a drop in sales. The SGX Nifty suggests that Nifty could open higher by 18 points around the level of 11,747. Going ahead, traders will keep a watch on Nikkei India Manufacturing PMI for August which is due to be released today.  
  
Asian stock markets have turned wobbly in the first trading session of September amid fears of further escalation in the US-China trade war. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng has tumbled 0.89 per cent; China’s Shanghai Composite has dropped 0.66 per cent, while Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 index has declined 0.50 per cent.  
  
Back home, key benchmark indices ended the first day of September F&O expiry series with negligible gains. The trading session on Friday started almost flat but it soon gathered momentum; however, benchmark indices pared their initial gains and spent the rest of the day trading in a sideways mode. The broader indices witnessed good buying interest and outperformed the frontline indices as Nifty Mid-cap and Small-cap rose 0.35 per cent each. Talking about sectoral performance, Nifty Pharma and Nifty IT stole the show as they surged 2.67 per cent and 1.18 per cent, respectively, while Nifty Media and Nifty Metal ended lower by 0.60 per cent each.    

The major US indices exhibited lack of direction on Friday before ending mixed and near the flat line as continued trade anxieties appeared to make the market edgy. The talks between the US and Canada failed to come to an agreement on rewriting the three-nation trade pact. The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 22 points to close at 25,965, on the other hand, the S&P 500 index finished almost unchanged at 2901, and the tech-heavy the Nasdaq Composite Index rose 21 points to end the day at 8,110.  
  
It was a sea of red in the European markets as major indices ended the last trading session of the week with firm losses as reports suggested the US is prepared to impose the next round of tariffs on China and uncertainty about the trade talks between the US and Canada also weighed on the markets. Bond yields in the region finished mixed on the back of some cooler-than-expected reads on Eurozone consumer price inflation. The DAX of Germany plunged 1.11 per cent, the CAC 40 of France lost 1.30 per cent and the UK’s FTSE 100 finished lower by 1.04 per cent.