Expect positive opening

Indian equities markets closed the day marginally higher on Friday but posted their biggest weekly fall last week, in more than 7 years as disappointing corporate earnings, especially bank results, sliding rupee and weak global markets continued to dampen sentiments. Benchmarks witnessed a bloodbath; the Sensex slid 1,630.85 points or 6.62% to 22,986.12 and Nifty dropped by 508.15 points or 6.79% to 6,980.95 during the last week. Selling pressure was visible in broader markets as well; the BSE mid-cap index fell 6.96% and the small-cap index slipped 8.39%. Indian rupee slid 1.18% to 68.44 levels in the last week.

Industrial production (IIP) contracted for the second consecutive month in December at 1.3% after shrinking 3.2% in the preceding month. IIP continued to fall primarily because of a decline in production of capital goods and manufactured products. Retail inflation consumer price index (CPI) inched up to a 16-month high of 5.69% in January compared with 5.61% in December. It stood at 5.19% in January 2015. However it remained safely within the RBI’s target of under 6% for the month.

U.S. stocks ended Friday's session sharply higher, snapping a five-day losing streak on the strength of energy and financial companies. But the week ended in the red by 1% and remained down more than 8% for the year. Dow industrials finished 313.66 points, or 2%, higher at 15,973.84, while the S&P 500 index gained 35.70 points, or 2%, to 1,864.78 on Friday. For the the week, the Dow was down 1.4%, the Nasdaq lost 0.6% and the S&P 500 slid 0.8%.

European stocks also finished higher Friday after a hugely turbulent week. The Stoxx Europe 600 add 2.9% Friday, but the broader index still ended the week down 4.1%. Germany’s DAX index ended the day up 2.5% at 8,967.51 while Britain’s FTSE 100 gained 3.1% to 5,707.60. France’s CAC 40 ended 2.5% higher at 3,995.06. For the week, the U.K’s FTSE 100 was down by 2.4%, the DAX 30 recorded a weekly loss of 3.4% and France’s CAC 40 slid 4.9% lower.

Fourth-quarter growth in the eurozone economy met expectations, rising 0.3% from the previous three months. GDP expanded by 1.5% in 2015. For Germany alone, GDP rose 0.3% in the quarter.

Markets in Asia mostly climbed on Monday except for China's shares, which lost ground as its markets re-opened after the week-long Lunar New Year holiday. Japan’s Nikkei was up 5.13% even after the country reported a contraction in GDP in the fourth quarter due to expectations of a greater stimulus from the bank of Japan. Australia’s S&P ASX 200 gained 1.2%. South Korea’s Kospi was up 1.1%. The Shanghai Composite Index traded down 2.8% at 2684.96.

While on domestic front, a SGX Nifty 50 index future for February series traded up 94 points at 7,068. Indian markets are likely to open in green following the other Asian markets.