Markets may see flat opening

Indian equity benchmark extended its southward journey for second straight session on Thursday. Sentiments remained dampened with report showing that the services sector activity slumped in July and fell to its lowest level in nearly four years following implementation of the Goods and Services Tax (GST). Nifty breached 10,050 mark and Sensex breached crucial level of 32,300.

The European shares ended mostly higher on Thursday. The Bank of England kept its record low interest rate unchanged. The German DAX Index shed 0.22 per cent, the French CAC 40 Index gained 0.45 per cent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index surged 0.85 per cent.

U.S stocks mostly ended in negative terrain on Thursday; however, the Dow bucked the trend to close with nominal gains and logged a seventh consecutive all-time high. The Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced 10 points at 22,026. The S&P 500 index declined 5 points to 2,472. The technology-laden Nasdaq Composite Index fell 22 points to 6,340.

Asian markets were bit subdued in early trade on Friday. Hong Kong Hang Seng has advanced 26 points. China’s Shanghai Composite has surged 10 points. While, Japan’s Nikkei 225 has shed 72 points.

The outlook for the day is a quieter start with Asian market trading subdued and the SGX Nifty were trading at 10,042 almost unchanged from previous close. Important earnings to be announced on Friday include Apollo Tyre, Arvind, Berger Paint, Dabur, Eid Parry, Fortis, M&M, Hindpetro, GSFC and Repco Home.