Markets may open negative; caution the theme till Saturday's poll results

Indian benchmark indices after getting off to a soft start, traded in a narrow range for the initial hours of trading, however, profit booking emerged in the afternoon session and indices slipped into negative territory, while buying interest at lower level helped indices to claw back and trim their losses. To end with, the NSE’s 50-share broadly followed index Nifty, took a cut of around quarter per cent to settle above the crucial 8900 support level, while Bombay Stock Exchange’s Sensitive index, Sensex, slipped by around hundred points and closed tad above the psychological 28900 mark.
 
The European markets witnessed a choppy trading session on Wednesday, fluctuating between small gains and losses throughout the day. However, the majority of the markets ended the day with slight gains, ahead of an announcement from the European Central Bank. The DAX of Germany climbed 0.01 per cent and the CAC 40 of France rose 0.11 per cent. The FTSE 100 of the U.K. declined 0.06 per cent.

The Dow Jones and S&P 500 closed lower for a third consecutive session on Wednesday as oil prices slipped, and a better than expected report on private sector employment boosted prospects for an interest rate hike next week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 69 points to end at 20,856. The S&P 500 fell 5 points to close at 2,362. The Nasdaq Composite index ended flat at 5,838.    

Asian markets are mostly trading lower on Thursday. Japan’s Nikkei 225 gained 0.15 per cent. On the other hand, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng lost over 1 per cent and Shanghai Composite slipped 0.02 per cent.

At 8:06 am, SGX Nifty index was trading weak with losses of 49 points at 8908, indicating a negative start for Indian equities. Exit polls from the five states that held Assembly elections, which are due today evening will be watched by market participants.