Follow-up rally likely today
Indian markets are expected to make an optimistic start and the benchmarks are likely to extend northward journey on the back of positive regional cues. The SGX Nifty suggests that the Nifty could open at 10,849, higher by 45 points at the opening bell.
Today, the GST Council meets and some of the key items in its agenda will include GST rates, review of GST process, addressing technical issues and improving GST compliance.
Adani Port, Adani Enterprises, Bharti Airtel, Cyient, DB Corp, Deepak Nitrite, Ultratech Cement, Hindustan Zinc, Mastek, Yes Bank, Zensar Technologies are some of the key companies to announce their results today.
Equity markets in Asia were trading higher, with Hong Kong’s benchmark Hang Seng leading the gains, followed by Japanese Nikkei and China’s Shanghai Composite.
Back home, after making a cautious start, markets entered into the red terrain and traded cautiously. However, buying emerged at lower levels and, as the day progressed, markets picked up momentum with frontline indices surpassing their crucial levels at 35,000 (Sensex) and 10,800 (Nifty) for the first time ever on an intra-day basis. Finally, to conclude the session, Nifty ended at 10,788, up by 88 points, and BSE Sensex rose 310 points to settle at 35,081. On the sectoral front, barring Nifty Media, all other sectoral indices ended the session in the positive terrain. The stocks of public sector banks (PSBs) were buzzing on bourses, with Nifty PSU Bank index surging 4.17%.
The US markets finished in the positive territory on Wednesday, with major indices ending at record highs and the Dow closing above the 26,000 milestone for the first time ever after the Federal Reserve’s Beige Book painted a sunny picture of the US economy. The Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 323 points to 26,115.65, S&P 500 gained 26 points to 2,803 and Nasdaq Composite index closed higher by 75 points to 7,299.
On Wednesday, European markets ended the session in the negative territory. Disappointing earnings in Europe and ambiguity over the shape of government in Germany contributed to the negative mood among market participants. The DAX of Germany lost 0.47%, CAC 40 of France slipped 0.36%. and FTSE 100 of the UK dipped 0.39%.