Markets may begin on a muted note amid negative global cues

The outlook for the day is a soft start and the markets are expected to consolidate further during this truncated week. However, stock-specific volatility will continue as corporate earnings will continue to be on investors' radar. Wipro's results will be in focus today. At the time of writing, SGX Nifty was trading at 11,736.50 almost unchanged.

Asian equity markets lacked clear direction on Tuesday after a disappointed closing on Wall Street as earnings from Dow members dented the sentiments. The Japanese stock market Nikkei is up by 0.28 per cent, while Hong Kong’s index Hang Seng has lost 0.21 per cent and China’s Shanghai Composite is almost unchanged.  

Back home, benchmark indices scored a hat-trick of gains on Monday. The indices saw a decent start to the day as cues from the global markets were favourable and the upward rally continued as the day progressed after the IMD chipped in with a forecast of normal monsoon this year. In the end, Nifty closed at 11,690, up by 0.40 per cent, and the BSE Sensex added 0.36 per cent to finish at 38,905. The broader market indices outperformed the benchmark indices with Nifty Midcap and Smallcap advancing 0.47 per cent and 0.63 per cent, respectively. Talking about sectoral performances, majority of the indices ended in the green with Nifty Metal leading the gainers list followed by Nifty Realty, Nifty Auto and Nifty IT, while on the flip side, Nifty PSU Bank, Nifty Media and Nifty Pharma ended in the red.

The US stock markets ended the first trading session of the week with marginal losses, led by the financial sector after the Dow member Goldman Sachs reported softer-than-expected quarterly results and Citigroup reported mixed earnings. Meanwhile, on the economic front, regional manufacturing had accelerated more than expected. The Dow Industrial Average slipped 0.10 per cent; the tech-heavy Nasdaq dipped 0.10 per cent and the S&P 500 index edged down 0.06 per cent.

The European indices finished mostly higher on Monday. The France’s CAC 40 added 0.11 per cent and the DAX of Germany gained 0.15 per cent. The UK’s FTSE 100 ended near the neutral line.