Market May Open Positive

It was another volatile trading session for Indian equities as the benchmark indices traded from marginally positive to negative and then with marginal losses. The Sensex was down 78.64 points at 26908.82 and the Nifty slipped 25.25 points at 8102.10. In S&P BSE sectoral indices, Metal fell by 1.42 percent, followed by Bankex 0.65 percent and IT 0.49 percent while Oil & Gas rose by 1.39 percent. The BSE Mid-Cap index and Small-Cap index both closed flat note.

The U.S. stock market rebounded strongly from a five-day losing streak after strong private sector jobs data and gains in European markets. All three major U.S. indexes climbed more than 1%. The S&P 500 index gained 23.29 points to close at 2,025.90. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 212.88 points to 17,584.52, and the Nasdaq composite gained 57.73 points to 4,650.47. The news came ahead of Friday's more widely watched US non-farm payrolls report for December.

Major markets in Europe also ended higher for the first time this week with investors anticipating more stimulus by the European Central Bank (ECB) after new data showed that the euro zone has entered into deflation. Germany's DAX closed with a gain of 0.5% and France's CAC 40 rose 0.7%. Britain's FTSE 100 advanced 0.84%. The pan-European Euro STOXX Europe 600 ended around 0.5% higher.

Asian stock markets open in green after US stock markets rallying strongly due the slide in oil prices stalled overnight. The ADP jobs report in the US beat forecasts and inflation figures in Europe supported the argument for monetary easing from the ECB. Tokyo's Nikkei 225 is the top performer, rising 1.7% after a flat finish on Wednesday. As the search for havens unwinds, the yen weakened 0.7% overnight and another 0.4% this morning, giving Japanese stocks a boost. The Hang Seng index rose 0.5%.

SGX Nifty is trading in green with 39.5 points higher to 8,180.5. Today, Indian market is expected to open positive on account of positive global cues.