Markets likely to open on a positive note today

Indian market is likely to end the week on a positive note with the global cues appearing strong today. After a better closing of the August series, the set-up for the September series looks optimistic. At 7:50 am, SGX Nifty was trading up by 28 points at 11,626.50 levels.

Nifty gained 4.12 per cent for the August series. This is the consecutive third series where the market has closed in green. The start of the September series is expected to be on a positive note and F&O data suggest a range to be between 11200 and 12000.

After a positive close on Wall Street overnight, Asian indices in early trade are looking strong. Hong Kong's Hang Seng was up by 0.48% and Japan's Nikkei 225 had added 0.28% while China's Shanghai Composite is also up by 0.20%.

Asian Markets

During Thursday's sessions, Indian markets ended with modest gain with Nifty and Sensex gaining 0.08 and 0.10 per cent, respectively. This is the fifth consecutive session when the Indian market has closed in green.

As news of China firing missiles into the South China Sea and uncertainty regarding the US Fed Chair's address dominated the sentiment, indices that had opened on a positive note gave away their early gains. However, the broader indices continued to outperform the benchmark indices.  

With the Maharashtra government's decision to reduce the Stamp Duty, sectoral indices exhibited a mixed trend wherein Nifty Realty surged by 6.4 per cent. Nifty Mid-Cap and Nifty Small-Cap surged for the ninth day in a row and were up by 0.12 and 0.25 per cent, respectively. Nifty Auto and Nifty PSU Bank were other gainers. On the flipside, defensive such as Nifty IT and Nifty FMCG ended as top losers.

After the US Federal Reserve announced a major policy shift on Thursday, Wall Street saw a volatile trading session overnight. The central bank will now do an average inflation targeting, which will help the interest rate to remain at a lower level even if inflation shoots up above two per cent. The step is seen as a dovish signal by the market and better for risk-on assets. The initial reaction to this was positive on the US market as Dow and S&P 500 both gained, the latter touching the 3500 mark for the first time on an intraday basis. Nonetheless, they closed with minor gains, while the tech-heavy took a breather and ended the day in the red.

The US Fed Chair statement failed to cheer up the European market, as the indices that started in a negative territory saw selling pressure and increased their loss as the trading day progressed. Mining stocks were the worst performer.    

US Markets

Europe Markets

Commodity