Markets to open flat; global cues lack the zest

Monday’s session turned out to be a daunting day of trade for Indian equity markets where frontline gauges plunged below their crucial 26,600 (Sensex) and 8,200 (Nifty) levels. After a gap down opening, it made an attempt to show upside recovery, but was not able to sustain the recovery attempt and slipped into sharp decline and ended near the intraday low levels, as sentiments remained dampened with sharp rally in crude oil prices, contraction in factory data and likely delay in GST implementation.

European markets closed lower on Monday amid continued political uncertainty in Italy while investors await another rate decision from the U.S Federal Reserve. The CAC 40 was down 0.07 per cent while London's FTSE 100 was down 0.92 per cent and Germany's DAX was down 0.12 per cent.

The U.S. stocks struggled for direction on Monday, with Dow Jones notching the latest in a string of record closes, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq finished lower. At the close of trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 39.58 points to close at 19,796.43, led higher by shares of Johnson & Johnson and Wal-Mart Stores Inc. The S&P 500 dipped 2.57 points to finish at 2,256.96 and the Nasdaq Composite fell 31.96 points to finish at 5,412.54.

Asian stocks are on tenterhooks on Tuesday as investors are awaiting the Federal Reserve meeting's outcome that begins later in session, for clues on the outlook for US monetary policy. Nikkei 225 is trading in negative territory at 19,143.12, down 0.06 per cent, Shanghai Composite is down by 0.61 per cent and Hang Seng by 0.19 per cent.  

At 7:57 am, SGX Nifty Index was trading 0.20 per cent higher at 8,199, indicating a quiet start for Indian equities.