A flat trading day in making

The trend on the SGX Nifty indicates a subdued start for the Indian markets, as, at the time of writing, the index was down by 15 points, trading at 12,263 levels. However, the markets may take support from the recent comment from the RBI Governor, Shaktikanta Das. According to him, some green shoots of growth are visible in the economy, going by the steady increase in the cost of projects sanctioned by banks and financial institutions and higher investment in fixed assets by Indian Inc. Further, Das emphasized that it is important to wait and see whether these green shoots sustain over two quarters or so before the central bank concludes. In this holiday-shortened week, we would recommend market participants to follow a stock-specific approach, as the markets may trade in a range and also volumes across the world may turn lower due to the holiday season.
 
The Asian markets lack clear direction on Tuesday. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng lost 0.30 per cent, Japan’s Nikkei 225 dipped 0.02 per cent, and China’s Shanghai Composite has been trading flat with positive bias.
 
Back home, on Monday, the markets halted its four-day winning streak and ended the session with modest losses, as the last hour buying helped the markets to recoup losses witnessed in the first half of the trading sessions. The sentiment remained dampened, as the ruling party BJP appeared to be set for the second place in a nail-biting contest for the Jharkhand Assembly election. At the close, the BSE Sensex lost 0.09 per cent and the Nifty shed 0.07 per cent. Amongst the broader market indices, both Nifty Midcap and Smallcap lost 0.23 and 0.30 per cent, respectively. On the sectoral front, Nifty Media and Nifty Auto were top gainers while on the flipside, Nifty PSU Bank and Nifty Realty were top losers.
 
As for the global happenings, the US stocks were en route to registering another new record closing highs on Monday. Market participants seemed to be optimistic that negotiations between the US and China were making progress and that a preliminary agreement might be reached sometime in the near future. Improved relations between the world’s two largest economies would be quite favorable to the economy and the corporate sector. On the economic front, there were a couple of announcements, including durable goods orders fell 2 per cent during November and new home sales came in short of forecasts. At the end of the session, the Dow climbed 96 points, the Nasdaq advanced 21 points, and the S&P was up 3 points. The majority of the European markets ended the sessions with gain.