Markets may open flat to positive in the midst of dull global cues

Indian benchmark indices edged lower on Tuesday with Reliance Industries leading the losses as concerns about spending at its telecom unit overshadowed better-than-expected third quarter earnings. On the BSE sectoral space, Metal and Oil & Gas pockets remained among top laggards in the space as they got slashed by 1.52 per cent and 1.39 per cent respectively. While sectors like PSU and Auto got pounded in the session. On the flipside, the defensives like FMCG and Power along with IT managed to go home with moderate gains of around half a per cent. At the end of the day, the NSE’s 50-share broadly followed index Nifty, suffered a moderate cut of around 18 bps to settle below the crucial 8,400 support level; while Bombay Stock Exchange’s Sensitive Index-Sensex- slipped over fifty points.

European markets on Tuesday traded with high volatility as U.K. Prime Minister, Theresa May stated that U.K. is set for ‘hard Brexit’, and she went on to say that her country will not remain a member of the single market. FTSE witnessed the biggest one-day drop since June 2016. Whereas, the CAC 40 and Germany's DAX  ended with marginal losses.  

The U.S. stocks ended lower on Tuesday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 58.96 points to close at 19,826. The S&P 500 index declined 6.75 points to 2,267. The Nasdaq Composite index fell 35.39 points to settle at 5,538.

Asian stocks are trading in the mix on Wednesday. Hong Kong’s index, Hang Seng has surged over 1 per cent and China’s index, Shanghai Composite is trading with gains of 0.34 per cent. However, bucking the trend Japan’s Nikkei 225 is trading lower by 0.19 per cent.

At 7:58 am, SGX Nifty index has gained 18.50 points to 8,426.50, indicating a positive start for Indian equities.