Soft opening likely amid positive cues from Asian peers

Indian markets are likely to witness a soft opening and we expect it to pick up momentum as the day progresses. The SGX Nifty indicates Nifty is likely to open around the level of 10,899, marginally down by 12 points. The key earnings on the tap today will be Balrampur Chini, Exide Industries, IDBI, IRB, BBTC, Future Retail, SRF, Whirlpool, NRB Bearing and FSL. 
  
Asian stock markets are seen advancing on Monday despite the mixed cues from Wall Street on Friday. Japanese stock market Nikkei 225 index has gained 0.49 per cent and Hong Kong’s index Hang Seng has added 0.13 per cent, while China’s Shanghai stock exchange is closed for holiday. 
  
Back home, the key benchmark indices cheered the interim budget for FY2019-20 with Nifty closing higher by 0.58 per cent, which is within a striking distance from the 10,900 mark and the BSE Sensex rose 0.59 to close above the 36,450 mark. After exhibiting a stable start, markets traded in a sluggish mode ahead of the budget announcement and as the budget announcement unfolded, bulls gained momentum and witnessed a sharp rise. However, in the end, profit-booking came in and, as a result, markets closed off day’s high. The broader markets too ended in the green with Nifty Mid-cap and Small-cap ending higher by 0.51 per cent and 0.10 per cent, respectively. Among sectoral indices, Nifty Media and Metal were hammered and these indices ended as top losers, while Nifty Auto and Nifty Pharma ended as top gainers. 
  
The US stocks ended the final trading session of the week on a mixed note with the Dow Jones and S&P 500 eking out modest gains and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Iindex ending with marginal loss. The sentiments remained upbeat on the back of stronger than expected US job growth, along with some encouraging results from Dow members, while Amazon’s disappointing Q1 revenue guidance weighed on the Nasdaq Index. 

European markets ended in the green on Friday. The DAX of Germany advanced 0.07 per cent, the CAC of France added 0.53 per cent and the FTSE 100 of the UK added 0.74 per cent.