Markets may begin flat with a negative bias following mixed cues from Asian peers

The outlook for the day is a flat start with a negative bias in early trading. There could be jitters as former RBI governor; Raghuram Rajan has expressed doubts on India’s ability to grow GDP at 7 per cent if sufficient jobs are not created. Also, he hinted at the confusing signals coming on the quality of data and suggests that the government must come clean on a single reliable source. At the time of writing, the SGX Nifty was trading down by 24 points at 11,500.

The shares in Asia were mixed on Wednesday in contrast to the positive session on Wall Street overnight. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index has gained 0.25 per cent and China’s Shanghai Composite index has moved higher 0.51 per cent, while the Japanese stock market Nikkei has lost 0.57 per cent.

Back home, bulls came back with a vengeance on Tuesday and ended the trading session with robust gains of over a per cent. Markets witnessed a stable opening and, thereafter, they traded in a defined range for the first half of the trading session. However, the second half of the trading session saw markets gaining momentum and extending their upmove to close near the day’s high. In line with benchmark indices, the broader markets also ended with gains of over a per cent with Nifty Midcap and Smallcap surging 1.14 per cent and 1.16 per cent, respectively. On the sectoral front, barring Nifty IT, all other indices ended in the green, with Nifty PSU Bank and Nifty Pvt Bank ending as top gainers.

The US stock markets traded firmly higher in early part of the trading session, but ended Tuesday session off day’s high as markets trimmed some of the gains over the course of the trading session. This was on the back of disappointing economic data such as consumer confidence index for March which unexpectedly fell and the housing starts and building permits being weaker than the forecast. All said and done, the Dow Jones Industrial Average surged 0.55 per cent, the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite index rose 0.71 per cent and the S&P 500 index gained 0.72 per cent.

European indices posted gains on Tuesday as global growth concerns appeared to ease. The DAX of Germany and the CAC 40 added 0.64 per cent and 0.89 per cent, respectively and the UK’s FTSE 100 advanced 0.26 per cent.