Week to begin with a negative bias

Indian markets may start the fresh week with a negative bias as SGX Nifty is trading with modest losses of 12 points at 12,118 levels. Currently, we believe the market could trade in a range between 12,000 and 12,240 till the time there is a greater clarity on Chinese pandemic.  

Asian markets were trading mixed on Monday. China’s Shanghai Composite and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng were up by 0.95 and 0.60 per cent, respectively, while Japan’s Nikkei 225 lost 0.64 per cent.

Back home, on Friday, the market traded volatile and settled with losses of nearly half a per cent. After a positive start, the markets were heading higher but the thorn in the flesh for the markets was that Supreme Court (SC) rejected the plea of telecom players seeking a new schedule of AGR payments and due to this, markets plunged sharply. The broader markets ended on a negative note with Nifty Mid-cap and Small-cap dropping 0.81 and 0.25 per cent, respectively. All the sectoral indices traded in tandem with the benchmark indices and ended in red. Nifty PSU Bank, Nifty Metal, Nifty FMCG and Nifty Bank were the top losers.

During the week’s final trading session, US stocks put up a lackluster performance as the major averages spent the day bouncing back and forth across the neutral line. Meanwhile, the economic data began to sense the first ripples of coronavirus outbreak. According to the Consumer Department, US retails sales rose 0.3 per cent in January; the number came in below expectations, as big gains at home centers and restaurants were offset by a 3.1 per cent drop in clothing store sales. At the end of the day, Dow slipped 25 points, while S&P 500 and Nasdaq added 0.2 per cent each.  Meanwhile, European indices too ended on a mixed note.