Market Likely To Open In Red

Indian shares made modest gains in a special 'muhurat' one-hour trading session for the Hindu festival of Diwali on Wednesday, spurred on by a string of economic reforms aimed at drumming up foreign investment in a range of industries. The equity benchmark indices, Sensex & Nifty, marked the beginning of Samvat 2072 on a cracking note, the Sensex ended at 25866.95, up 123.69 or 0.5% while the Nifty closed at 7825, up 41 points or 0.5%. Besides frontline stocks, investors were more upbeat on second-rung stocks, with BSE Mid-cap index gaining 1% and BSE Small-cap index rising 1.5%, thereby outperforming the benchmark indices by a wide margin.

Indian economy is still not out of the woods as factory output growth slowed in September while retail inflation jumped up in October. Official data released on Thursday showed IIP grew 3.6% in September against a near-three-year high of 6.2% in August; low growth in mining and manufacturing sectors pulled down the IIP. The Consumer Price Index (CPI)-based inflation continued to rise for the third month and hit 5% in October. Retail food inflation surged to 5.25% from 3.88% in September.

U.S. stocks closed more than 1% lower Thursday, under pressure from sharp declines in oil prices, as investors eyed several speeches from Federal Reserve officials. The S&P 500 fallen in six of the past seven sessions amid rate-hike talk and dropped 29.03 points, or 1.4%, to close at 2,045.97. The Dow Jones Industrial Average tumbled 254.15 points, or 1.4%, to 17,448.07 while the Nasdaq composite index fell 1.2% to 5005.

In Europe, shares also fell. Germany's DAX index was off 1.1% and the CAC 40 in Paris was down 1.9%. The broader Stoxx Europe 600 was 1.5% lower.

Oil prices edged away from over two-month lows on Thursday after a sharp slide on concerns the market would take much longer than many anticipated to rebalance as supplies far outstrip demand. WTI Crude oil futures settled down USD 1.18, or 2.75%, at USD 41.75 a barrel while Brent crude futures were at USD 46.05 a barrel, up 24 cents following a 3.4% fall the previous day.

Asian stocks tracked Wall Street lower early Friday after commodity prices plunged to multi-year lows on worries that softer global growth may exacerbate the supply glut, while U.S. Federal Reserve officials kept beating the drum for a rate hike next month. Japan’s NIKKEI 225 index sank 0.9% as the yen held gains against the dollar. South Korea’s Kospi index dropped 0.95%. New Zealand’s S&P NZX 50 Index slipped 0.5%. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index fell 1.65%, heading for its biggest loss since September. Share markets in China nursed a weak open, with the benchmark Shanghai Composite slipping 1.8%.

A SGX Nifty 50 Index future for November delivery was down 37 points at 7,775. Indian market is likely to open in red with following other Asian market.