Soft opening on cards!

Markets worldwide have been gripped by fear of the viral infection resurging as report suggested that new Coronavirus cases have been found in countries such as China and South Korea. This pessimism is likely to attack Dalal Street and hence, SGX Nifty is indicating a negative start as it is down by 68 points at 9,147 level. In Monday’s trade, Banking & Financial stocks were seen reeling under pressure as the spike in borrowings had its impact on bond yields, which shot up by 22 bps. Financials would continue to be in under pressure and for Nifty, 9,116 is a key level to watch on the downside.

Market participants will look forward to the industrial production data for March and consumer inflation for April. Further, all eyes will be on MSCI committee meeting for cues on India flows.

Markets in Asia on Tuesday were trading in red following a mixed close on Wall Street. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng has slipped 1.45 per cent, Japan’s Nikkei 225 was down by 0.20 per cent and China’s Shanghai Composite had dropped 0.05 per cent.

On Monday, the key benchmark indices ended the day with modest losses. The benchmark indices opened the session with a gap-up but as the day progressed, rally fizzled out and benchmark indices erased all its gains and ended the day at day’s low. At the end of the day, Nifty lost 0.13 per cent and BSE Sensex dropped 0.26 per cent. The broader market indices ended mixed as Nifty Mid-cap ended with gains of 0.58 per cent, while Nifty Small-cap dipped 0.15 per cent. On the sectoral front, Nifty Private Bank and Nifty Bank were the top losers and on the other hand, Nifty Auto, Nifty Media and Nifty IT were the top gainers.

In overnight developments, US stocks ended Monday’s session on a mixed note. Dow fell by 0.5 per cent and S&P 500 Index closed almost unchanged. But, the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite jumped 0.8 per cent to 9,912 levels. Reports of new cases in Wuhan and South Korea raised fears about the potential threat of viral infection resurging. European indices mostly ended down on Monday on the fears of second wave of Coronavirus infections after several countries eased lockdown restrictions.