Market may open on a cautious note after the big fall

Indian markets are likely to start the first trading session of the December month bit cautiously and some consolidation can be seen after a drastic fall in the previous trading session. The SGX Nifty suggests that the Nifty could open at 10,271 with modest loss of 6 points at the opening bell.  

Yesterday, post market hours, the GDP data for the September quarter were released.  India’s 2QFY18 GDP growth at 6.3% (vs. consensus 6.4%) shows that the economy is coming back on the growth track. 

Asian shares have got off to a cautious start on Friday with Hong Kong’s Hang Seng trading above the neutral line with gains of 26 points. On the other hand, Japan’s Nikkei 225 has dipped 3 points and China’s Shanghai Composite has shed 5 points. 

Back home, it was a terrifying session for the benchmark indices as the markets witnessed their biggest single day fall in two months on Thursday after Apr-Oct fiscal deficit data came in at 96% of the budgeted target of FY18. Also, the expiry of November series derivatives dented the sentiments. Broader indices showed a relatively better performance compared to the benchmark indices as Nifty Mid-Cap lost 0.70%, while Nifty Small-Cap added 0.07%. Sector-wise, Nifty Realty rose 1.12%. At the closing bell, Nifty ended the November Series expiry below 10,250 with loss of 1.30% and BSE Sensex settled at 33,149 down by 1.35%.  

On the Wall Street, Thursday session turned out to be a terrific one as the Dow Jones Industrial Average crossed the 24,000 landmark for the first time and the S&P 500 also reached new record closing highs. The optimism on the Wall Street was due to the Senate Republicans making headway in their push to pass tax cuts.  The Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 332 points to close at 24,272, Nasdaq rose 50 points to finish at 6,874 and the S&P 500 edged up 22 points to end at 2,648.  

The European indices pared early gains to end lower on Thursday. The FTSE 100 of UK declined 0.90%, DAX of Germany slipped 0.29% and CAC 40 of France lost 0.47%.