Markets to open on a flat to positive note

Indian markets saw a gradual downbeat after unsuccessful attempts of hitting above the 52 week highs. Sensex underperformed Nifty and tumbled 0.56 per cent at 28051 levels while Nifty remained marginally down at 8638.50. Banks, Consumer Durables and Capital goods dragged the markets downwards.

In the US markets S&P 500 hit record high yet again at 2177.09 driven by positive earnings from technology stocks; Alphabet and Amazon offsetting losses in energy sector. On the contrary Dow was dragged down by nearly 1.5 per cent due to worse than expected results of McDonald's and Exxon. GDP data in US witnessed a rise of 1.2 per cent as against expectations of 2.6 per cent, reducing chances of a interest rate hike by FED.
 
On the European front the Eurozone’s economic growth halved to 0.3 per cent. However, European markets rose after banking authorities conducted stress tests of 51 banks amid plans to rescue Italian Bank. The Germany’s main index DAX closed 0.61 per cent up at 10338; while France’s CAC40 also rose by 0.44 per cent to 4440. Britain's FTSE remained flat at 6724.
 
Asian markets started off on a negative note on August 1 where Japanese shares tumbled, dragging Nikkei 1.2 per cent down after worse than expected monetary stimulus by Bank of Japan. However, Nikkei recovered and is trading flat after soft GDP dissolved rate hike hopes by US FED. Hang Seng has risen sharply with 1.4% gains.

On the contrary China’s Shanghai Composite has tumbled 1%. China’s factory activity has dropped where PMI has eased to 49.9 which is below the expansion limit of 50. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index is positive with 0.85%; while New Zealand’s S&P/NZX 50 is flat to positive with 0.09% gains. South Korea’s KOSPI is marginally up with 0.7% gains.
 
Indian markets dipped on Friday but saw a last moment slight recovery. Markets may open on a flat to positive note tracking positive SGX Nifty futures which is trading at 8731.50 levels with half a per cent rise.