Markets may open flat to slightly higher

Tuesday turned out to be a terrible day for the Indian markets, where frontline gauges ended with a cut of around one per cent. Country’s largest cigarette maker and index heavyweight, ITC plunged over 12 per cent after the government increased tax on cigarettes.

The European markets collapsed on Tuesday on the back of mixed corporate earnings and strengthening of the Euro. The DAX of Germany plunged 1.25 per cent and the CAC 40 of France fell 1.09 per cent. The FTSE 100 of the U.K. dropped 0.19 per cent.

The majority of US stocks ended in a positive territory on Tuesday, the Nasdaq Composite and the S&P500 index closed at record levels, while Dow was dragged lower by a drop in Goldman Sachs which shed 2.6 per cent after a disappointing quarterly result. The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 55 points to finish at 21,575. The Nasdaq Composite Index advanced 30 points to finish at 6,344 gaining for an eighth session in a row. The S&P 500 gained about 1 point to close at 2,461.

Asian Markets edge up in early trade on Wednesday; Hong Kong Hang Seng was leading as it traded with a gain of 0.45 per cent, followed by China’s Shanghai Composite which traded higher by 0.36 per cent and Japan’s Nikkei 225 has advanced 0.11 per cent.

Indian equity markets are likely to open flat. SGX Nifty indicates that the Nifty may open with marginal gains of 12 points at 9,870 at the opening bell. Stock such as Bajaj Finance, Havells and Canara Bank will be in the limelight as they will report their quarter ended June 2017 earnings.