Markets may open negative as Asian markets seem to be suffering from Monday morning blues

Indian benchmark indices got off to a decent start and thereafter indices gained further in the morning trades, but the sentiments changed as profit booking at higher levels weighed down the indices by the end of the session. Finally, the NSE's 50-share broadly followed index, Nifty, rose by around two tens of a per cent to settle below the crucial 8,950 support level; while Bombay Stock Exchange's Sensitive Index-Sensex accumulated around thirty points and closed below the psychological 28,900 mark.

The European markets ended Friday's session in negative territory. However, the markets did manage to pare their losses in late trade. A slew of disappointing corporate earnings' reports weighed on investor sentiment at the end of the trading week. Concerns over the upcoming French election also soured the mood among investors. The DAX of Germany dropped 1.20 per cent and the CAC 40 of France fell 0.94 per cent. The FTSE 100 of the U.K. declined 0.38 per cent.  

U.S stocks staged a last-minute rally on Friday, with major indexes turning positive ahead of the closing bell. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 11.44 points to end at 20,822. The S&P 500 rose 3.53 points to end at a record of 2,367. The Nasdaq Composite rose 9.8 points to end at 5,845.
 
The Asian markets have started the fresh week on a dismal note with Japan’s Nikkei 225 leading the down trail, where it lost over a per cent, followed by Hang Seng and Shanghai Composite falling 0.27 percent and 0.25 percent respectively.

At 8:06 am, SGX Nifty index was trading with losses of 33.50 points at 8,937.50, indicating a negative start for Indian equities.