Expect market to open lower; all eyes on RBI policy

Indian equities indices ended in green on Monday ahead of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) monetary policy, driven by Technology, Auto and Telecom stocks. The Sensex climbed 130.01 points or 0.51% to 25399.65 and the Nifty rose 45.75 points or 0.59% to 7758.80. Sentiment also got a lift after Nikkei/Markit Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) rose to an eight-month high of 52.4 in March from February’s 51.1. This is a third consecutive monthly improvement in business conditions across the sector. Among broader markets, BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices inched up between 0.2%-0.4%.

U.S. stocks fell slightly on Monday ahead of corporate-earnings season, raising doubts about whether stocks can sustain the gains made since February’s lows. US economic growth remained sluggish in the first quarter. New orders for manufactured goods dropped in February, as they have for 14 of the past 19 months, while business spending on capital goods was much weaker than initially believed. The Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 55.75 points, or 0.3%, to 17737.00, while the S&P 500 fell 6.65, or 0.3%, to 2066.13; and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 22.75, or 0.5%, to 4891.80.

Major oil producers are set to hold a meeting on April 17 to discuss measures to curb production, but Saudi Arabia has said it would not freeze productions unless Iran also does so.  WTI crude fell USD 1.09 or 3%, USD 35.70 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude, used to price international oils, lost 98 cents to USD 37.69 a barrel in London.

European stocks finished modestly higher on Monday, despite sharp fall in telecom stocks, as merger talks between Orange SA and Bouygues SA fell apart. The Stoxx Europe 600 picked up 0.4% to close at 334.49. Germany’s DAX 30 rose 0.3% to end at 9,822.08 and the U.K’s FTSE 100 picked up 0.3% to 6,164.72.

Asian stock markets opened lower on Tuesday morning, following losses on Wall Street, against a backdrop of slumping crude oil prices and mixed U.S. economic data. Japan’s NIKKEI 225 index slumped 2.22%, while Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index dropped 1.26%; and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index slipped 1.36%. The Korean’s Kospi was lower by 0.88%. The Shanghai Composite Index retreated and traded flatly.

On domestic front, A SGX Nifty 50 index future for April series traded down 61 points at 7,724. Indian markets are likely to open in red following other Asian markets. Investors and traders will be keeping an eye on RBI monetary policy, which is releasing today.