Indian markets may open marginally lower ahead of crucial Fed meet

Finally some positive mood was witnessed in the equity markets on Monday bringing in though little but significant cheer for the investors. Earlier in the session, markets touched its three-month low even as some buying was recorded at lower levels which supported markets just before the US Federal Reserve meeting scheduled to take place during the second half of the current week.

Leaving somewhat a sense of positivism among the investors, Sensex recorded higher band at 25150.35, up by 105.92 points or 0.4% while the Nifty was up by 39.60 points at 7650.05 mark. Broader indices benchmarks with mid-caps and small-caps rose by 0.47% and 0.87%, respectively.

Industrial output posted a growth stronger than expected at 9.8% in October in comparison to that of previous year and data released by the Centre late on Friday also mentioned rise of wholesale price index-based inflation rising to (-) 1.99% in November from (-) 3.81% in October. Interestingly, wholesale food price inflation in November doubled to 5.20% on a year-on-year basis.

Meanwhile, the US stocks reported modest gains after going through a volatile session. Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 103.29 points, or 0.6%, to 17368.50. The S&P 500 added 9.57, or 0.5%, to 2021.94 and Nasdaq Composite rose 18.76, or 0.4%, to 4952.23.

US oil prices briefly have fallen below USD 35/barrel before settling at 1.9% higher at USD 36.31, near seven-year lows. Junk bonds continued to sell off sharply while Brent futures were down 0.45%, at USD 37.76/barrel.

European stocks finished sharply lower on Monday, led in part by a renewed slide in energy shares as oil prices gyrated. The Stoxx Europe 600 fell 1.8% to end at 349.54, closing at its lowest level since early October. Germany’s DAX 30 drove down 1.9% to end at 10,139.34, and France’s CAC 40 shed 1.7% to finish at 4,473.07, after earlier posting a gain of more than 1%. The U.K.’s FTSE 100 finished down 1.3% at 5,874.06, suffering its lowest close in three years.

Asian shares open mixed in early trade on Tuesday, before a widely anticipated US interest rate increase by the Federal Reserve later this week. The Nikkei 225 index falling back into negative territory, down 138 points, or 0.73%, at 18,745 while South Korea's Kospi index marginally higher, up 4.5 points, or 0.22% percent, at 1931. The Australian market was also in positive territory in early trading on Tuesday. The ASX 200 traded up 10 points, or 0.22%, at 4,939.

Meanwhile, SGX Nifty 50 Index future for December delivery was down 18 points at 7,647. Indian markets hence may open marginally lower ahead of the crucial Fed meet. Going to be a day of wait and watch for sure. Happy investing!