Soft start in offing

Welcome to the final trading session of the week! Indian markets had recorded gains for two consecutive days and Nifty managed to close above 9,300 mark. The rally in the previous two trading sessions was aided by strong global cues and stabilising crude oil price as well as with a hope of stimulus package by the government. The global cues turned sour as Wall Street ended on a mixed note and Asian peers were under a selling pressure. Indian markets might witness a soft start but an important event of the day is that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to meet Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman to finalise a second stimulus package. The market participants will be all eyes & ears to this event as it could dictate the future trend of the market. At the time of writing, SGX Nifty is down by 118 points at 9,188 level.

Asian indices were trading in red on Friday, following the mixed leads overnight from Wall Street. Japan’s Nikkei was down by 0.80 per cent and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng & China’s Shanghai Composite had lost 0.47 per cent, respectively.  

Back home, the markets traded with a positive bias for the second consecutive session. BSE Sensex added 1.54 per cent to 31,863 and Nifty settled above 9,300 mark, up by 1.38 per cent. The broader market indices ended higher in-line with the frontline Indies like Nifty Mid-cap and Small-cap gaining 1.26 and 1.73 per cent, respectively. On the sectoral front, barring Nifty FMCG and Nifty PSU Bank, all the sectoral indices closed higher.

In overnight development, after a roller coaster ride, US markets finish mixed near the flat line. One of the leading media channel broke the story, which resulted in high volatility on the Wall Street as it reported that Gilead’s remdesivir flopped in its first trial. Further, the data showed initial jobless claims spiked again and new home sales tumbled added to woes. At the end, Dow rose 0.2 per cent, while S&P 500 and Nasdaq ended with modest losses. European indices too ended in green on Thursday.