Expect the week ends in a positive note

Indian equities market closed on a negative note on Thursday; however it recovered from a sharp selloff from the morning's deep cut. The market was weighed down by losses in banking, capital goods, realty and auto stocks. The Sensex ended the day at 24,772.97, down 81.14 points, or 0.33%. Nifty50 index closed at 7,536.80, down 25.60 points or 0.34%. Broader markets also saw selling pressure with the BSE small-cap index falling by 1.27%; while mid-cap index dropping 1.0 %. Sentiment was also dampened as rupee breached 67-level to fall to a 28-month low, and tumbled by 44 paise to 67.29 against USD, due to fresh dollar demand from banks and importers amidst volatile equities.

U.S. stocks closed higher Thursday, due to a bounce in oil prices and comments from Fed policymakers that indicated a possibility of tightening policy at a rate faster than what is currently discounted by the market. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 227.64 points, or 1.4%, and stands at 16,379.05, its biggest one-day gain of the year. The S&P 500 rose 31.56 points, or 1.7%, to 1921.84, while the Nasdaq Composite gained 88.94 points, or 2%, and stands at 4615.00.

European stocks finished lower after paring even steeper losses. The Stoxx Europe 600 index retreated 1.5% to 339.42. The German DAX and the CAC in Paris lost 1.7% and 1.8% respectively; the FTSE 100 closed down 42.74 points, or 0.72%, at 5,918.23.

Asian markets trimmed some of their early gains following a positive lead from Wall Street; whereas Chinese market opened in negative territory on Friday. Japan’s Nikkei 225 index jumped 0.8% after slumping 2.5% on Thursday. South Korea’s Kospi index gave up all the early gains and traded on a flat. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index rose 0.46%. New Zealand’s S&P/NZX 50 Index increased 0.8%. Shanghai Composite index was down by 1.2%.

While on domestic front, A SGX Nifty 50 index future for January Series traded up 12.5 points at 7,550. Indian markets may open in positive in the following a positive lead from Wall Street. Investors keep an eye on HUL stock which will be declaring its financial results for the December quarter today.