Market Likely To Open Positive
Indian equities indices wiping out its gains in last half an hour on yesterday recorded its first drop in three sessions, due to profit-booking in auto, oil & gas, PSU and banking stocks, ignoring a rising trend in the global market. The Nifty, after reclaiming the 8,400 mark, touched the session's high of 8,427.80 intra-day, before succumbing to selling pressure at higher levels and settled the day lower by 8 points, or 0.10%, at 8,365.65 and the Sensex was down 41.77 points at 27645.53. The BSE Mid-Cap index fell 16.05 points or 0.15% to settle at 10,651.02 and the BSE Small-Cap index rose 39.81 points or 0.36% to settle at 11,187.73.
U.S. stocks lost steam by the end of Tuesday’s session and closed mostly lower, though Dow industrials eked out a small gain to finish at a fresh record. Oil companies and drillers tugged major indexes down as the price of crude oil dropped for a fifth day straight. The S&P 500 index closed off 1.38 points or 0.1% at 2,127.82, breaking its three-day record-scoring streak. The Dow Jones Industrial Average eked out a gain of 13.51 points, or 0.1%, to 18,312.39, scoring its second consecutive record close. The Nasdaq Composite ended 8.41 points, or 0.2%, lower at 5,070.03.
As investors eyed renewed gains in yields and the dollar ahead of the Federal Reserve meeting minutes. The U.S. 10-year Treasury yield traded as high as 2.29%, while the 30-year yield briefly topped 3.08%. The U.S. dollar rose more than 1 percent, with the euro falling to a two-week low of USD 1.1121.
The price of oil fell sharply Tuesday, extending its slide for a fifth day in a row. A rising dollar made oil, which is priced in dollars, more expensive for overseas buyers. WTI crude fell USD 2.17 to close at USD 57.26 a barrel in New York. Brent crude fell USD 2.25 to close at USD 64.02 in London.
Europe’s main stock markets have rallied after an ECB executive board member signalled that it would step up its bond-buying program in May and June to avoid slow trading in the summer months. The ECB's effort tends to support stock and bond markets while weakening the euro. The Stoxx Europe 600 index was up 1.1% at 402.60, while Germany's DAX surged 2.2%. France's CAC 40 picked up 2.1% and Britain's FTSE 100 rose 0.4%.
Asian shares got off to a lackluster start on Wednesday after a mixed day on Wall Street, though Japan's better-than-expected GDP for the first three months of 2015 lifted the Nikkei to a nearly one-month high. South Korea’s Kospi index climbed 0.48%. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index retreated 0.1% and New Zealand’s NZX 50 Index slipped 0.11%. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index lost 0.15%. The Nikkei stock index rose 0.8% after data before the market open showed Japan's economy grew at a 2.4% annualized rate in the January-March period. The Shanghai Composite Index rose 1.4%.
SGX Nifty is trading up by 28 points. Indian market is likely to open in positive. Aarti Drugs, Bajaj Finserv, Bajaj Finance, Balaji Telefilms, Bharat Forge, DLF, Gabriel India, Hinduja Global Solutions, Tata Steel, T D Power Systems and Wabco India would be reporting fourth quarter earnings today.