Markets may see positive opening on encouraging cues from Asian peers

Indian shares are expected to open positive, tracking slightly optimistic cues from the Asian peers. The bullish trend in SGX Nifty, which was trading at 11,012, up by 30 points, indicated that domestic bourses may witness a positive opening. ABB India, Bajaj Finance, Bajaj Finserv, DB Corp, RBL Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Sterlite Technologies are set to declare their results.  

Asian markets have eked out modest gains in Thursday’s morning session. Japan’s Nikkei 225 has added 0.30 per cent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index has gained 0.23 per cent and China’s Shanghai Composite was seen flat. 

Back home, key benchmark indices erased entire early gains to end in the red on Wednesday. After opening the session with a gap-up, bulls were seen taking a breather and oscillated in a narrow range. However, in the afternoon session, the benchmark indices took a sharp U-turn after Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan accepted the no-confidence motion moved against the BJP government on the first day of the monsoon session of the parliament.  In the end, Nifty settled below the 11,000-mark with a loss of 0.25 per cent and Sensex tumbled 0.40% to end at 36,373. The selling pressure in the broader markets was more intense as Nifty Mid-cap and Small-cap indices plunged 1.05 per cent and 1.11 per cent, respectively. On the sectoral front, barring Nifty IT, all other sectors ended in the red with Nifty Metal and Nifty Realty leading the fall among sectoral indices. 

After showing lack of direction in the earlier part of the session, US stocks gather momentum in the second half and ended Wednesday’s session modestly higher. The sentiments improved late in the trading day as the Federal Reserve released its Beige Book, which highlighted that economic activity continued to expand across the US and ten of the twelve Fed districts reported moderate or modest growth. On the earnings fronts, Morgan Stanley gained 2.8 per cent after reporting better-than-analyst estimates second quarter results. The Dow rose 79 points to close at 25,199 logging its longest winning period since the May 14, the S&P 500 edged up 6 points to end at 2,816 while the Nasdaq closed almost unchanged. 

Wednesday turned out to be a fabulous day of trading for the European stocks as major indices ended the session firmly in the positive territory. The DAX of Germany climbed 0.82%, the CAC 40 of France gained 0.46% and the UK’s FTSE 100 finished higher by 0.65%. The data released on Wednesday showed UK inflation had remained stable for the second straight month in June. Meanwhile, the consumer prices in euro area rose 2 per cent on a YoY basis in June, the European Union’s statistics office Eurostat reported on Wednesday.