Markets may take a breather

The Indian markets opened with a gap-up and consolidated till the afternoon session. But it got into momentum after data showed upbeat direct tax collection and the market ended the day near day’s high. Nifty surged over 1% to end at 10,096 and BSE Sensex rose 1.09% to settle at 32,182. According to official statistics released on Thursday, IIP for August rose to nine-month high of 4.3% and the CPI for the month of September eased to 3.28%.   

The European indices showed lack of direction during the trading session on Thursday, with the FTSE 100 of the UK gaining 0.30%, the German DAX adding 0.09%, while the French CAC 40 Index closing just below the neutral line.  

In the US, all three benchmarks pulled back off their record levels to end slightly lower as financial giants Citigroup and JP Morgan weighed on the markets. The Dow Jones Industrial Average shed about 32 points to end at 22,842, S&P 500 index slipped 4 points at 2,551 and the tech-laden Nasdaq Composite Index dipped 12 points to 6,592.  
  
Markets in Asia were subdued in early deals on Friday after Wall Street retreated from record levels to end marginally lower. Nikkei 225 is leading the region with gains of 0.29%.  On the flip side, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng has shed 0.21% and  China’s Shanghai Composite has dipped 0.02%.    

Subdued Asian markets and SGX Nifty trading flat at 10,113 with modest loss of 13 points  suggest Nifty and Sensex are likely to open on a flat note. Key companies posting their results today include index pivotal Reliance Industries as also Karnataka Bank and MCX.