Markets may open with minor gains

Today, the start for Indian markets is likely to be slightly in the green on the back of positive regional cues. The SGX Nifty is trading higher by 7 points suggesting that the Nifty could open at 10,079 at the opening bell.  

Asian stock markets are trading mostly higher in early deals on Thursday despite the mixed leads overnight from Wall Street.  Japan’s Nikkei 225 has surged 268 points, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng has gained 12 points, while China’s Shanghai Composite has lost 8 point. 

Back home, benchmark indices ended the session on a weaker note, closing at the day’s low points post RBI policy. Largely along the expected lines, the RBI's Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) chose to maintain status quo on repo rates at 6%. The RBI also maintained its GVA growth guidance at 6.7%, although it increased its inflation forecast higher by 10 basis points. Among secondary market barometers, the Nifty Mid-Cap and Small-Cap indices slipped 1.03% and 0.49%, respectively. Sector-wise, barring Nifty IT, all the sectoral indices ended with losses. At the closing bell, Nifty lost 74 points to settle at 10,044 and BSE Sensex shed 205 points to close at 32,597.  

Wall Street finished mixed on Wednesday as a bounce-back by IT stocks allowed the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite index to snap a three-day losing streak, while the Dow and the S&P 500 ended the session with fractional losses. The Dow dipped 40 points to close at 24,141 and the S&P 500 shed 0.30 point to finish at 2,629. The Nasdaq gained 14 points to settle at 6,776.   

The European indices opened weak; however, markets pared their losses and ended the day on the opposite side of the neutral line. The DAX of Germany lost 0.38%, CAC 40 of France dipped 0.02% while FTSE 100 of UK added 0.28%.