Nifty may flat at opening bell

Indian equities indices fell seventh day in a row on yesterday as risk-averse investors fled equities around the world due to crisis in West Asia after Saudi Arabia launched air strikes in Yemen. The Sensex fell as much as 654.25 points 2.3% to end below 28,000-mark at 27,457.58. The Sensex has now lost 1,280 points in seven days. Similarly, the Nifty also ended 188.65 points lower or 2.2% at 8,342.15. The market had hit a record high in the beginning of March series, but failed to sustain that momentum through the series. The Nifty and Sensex corrected 8.5% from their all-time highs of 9119.20 and 30024.74 hit on March 4.

U.S. stocks managed to trim early sharp losses Thursday, but geopolitical concerns in the Middle East weighed on all three major indexes, extending the losing streak to a fourth day. Saudi Arabia began airstrikes in Yemen, sending oil prices surging as much as 6%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 40.31 points, or 0.23%, to close at 17,678.23. The S&P 500 dipped 4.90 points, or 0.24%, to finish at 2,056.15. The Nasdaq composite lost 13.16 points, or 0.27%, to end at 4,863.36.

U.S. oil rose 4.5% to a three-week high of USD 51.43 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange after rallying as much as 6.6% in early trading in Asia. Since hitting a six-year low on March 17, the price has bounced 18%. Thursday’s close was the highest since March 4. Brent, the global benchmark, gained 4.8% to USD 59.19 a barrel on ICE Futures Europe.

European equities closed sharply lower on Thursday, extending the previous day's retreat, with geopolitics once again worrying markets. The Euro Stoxx 600 Index ended around 0.9% lower. The FTSE 100 closed down provisionally 1.4%, while the German DAX was down 0.2% and the French CAC down 0.3%.

Asian equities were mixed on Friday as fears over Yemen and weak data from the world's third largest economy weighed on sentiment. Japan's benchmark index reversed losses, moving off a one-week low to enter positive territory, as investors engaged in bargain hunting following Thursday's losses. Meanwhile, Japanese data for the month of February was also in focus. Core consumer price inflation (CPI) and retail sales came in worse than expected, but household spending posted a smaller-than-expected annual fall. The Shanghai Composite Index slid 0.2% to 3,676.37, paring this week’s gain to 1.6%. The Hang Seng Index lost 0.1%.

SGX Nifty is marginally up by 3 points. Indian markets are likely to open flat. The next major trigger for the Indian markets is Q4 results which will start during second week of April, 2015.