Markets likely to open with moderate gains at opening bell

Indian markets are likely to open with moderate gains on Thursday on the back of positive sentiments prevailing among the Asian bourses.  As per early SGX indication, Nifty Fut (Nov) may open around 10,156 with gains of 10 points at the opening bell.  

Most of the Asian indices are trading higher in early trades on Thursday, with Nikkei 225 leading the way with gains of 182 points, followed by Hong Kong’s Hang Seng and China’s Shanghai Composite, which have gained 0.37% and 0.03%, respectively.   

Back home, equity benchmark indices tumbled for the third day in a row. Even the broader indices witnessed selling pressure and underperformed the benchmark indices as Nifty Mid-Cap and Nifty Small-Cap indices plunged 1.09% and 1.88%, respectively. Sector-wise, Nifty Metal tumbled the most as prices of industrial metals declined in global commodities markets, followed by Nifty Pharma and Nifty Realty. At the closing trade, Nifty closed at 10,118, down by 0.67% and Sensex closed at 32,760, down by 0.55%.  

The US stock markets closed firmly in the negative territory on Wednesday, with both the Dow and the S&P 500 suffering their biggest single day percentage drops since September amid sell-off in energy shares. The Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 138 points to close at 23,217. The S&P 500 dipped 14 points to close at 2,564 and the Nasdaq edged down by 32 points to settle at 6,706.  

The European markets ended in negative terrain on Wednesday. FTSE 100 of the UK was down by 0.56%, German DAX index declined 0.44% and French CAC 40 index fell 0.27%.