Subdued start likely after the festival break

Indian stocks are likely to see a somewhat subdued start for the day after Christmas, tracking sluggish cues from the Asian markets.  The SGX Nifty suggests that the Nifty could open at 10,509, with loss of 22 points at the opening bell. 

Asian stock markets are lacking a clear direction on Tuesday.  Japan’s Nikkei 225 has lost 13 points. On the other hand, China’s Shanghai Composite has gained 9 points. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng remained closed on account of Christmas holiday.  

Back home, on the last trading session of the week, markets snapped the two-day losing streak and scaled to record high levels on a closing as well as on an intra-day basis. The broader indices Nifty Mid-cap and Small-Cap index rose 0.30% and 0.90%, respectively. Sector-wise, Nifty IT ended as the top performer among sectoral indices as it gained about 1.12%, followed by Nifty PSU Bank.  At the end of the day, the barometer indices BSE Sensex ended higher by 184 points at 33,940 and Nifty gained 53 points to settle at 10,493.  

On Friday, the activity on Wall Street remained subdued ahead of the Christmas holiday as many traders were away from their desks for the Christmas weekend, due to which all three indexes closed slightly lower. The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 28 points to settle at 24,754, the Nasdaq dipped 5 points to 6,960 and the S&P 500 slipped 1 point to 2,683.  

European market indices closed with modest losses on Friday as stocks pulled back after Catalonia’s separatists won a majority. The CAC 40 of France shed 0.40%, DAX of Germany declined 0.28% and FTSE 100 of the UK fell 0.15%.