Markets may open with minor gains following weak cues from Asian peers

India markets are likely to open a tad higher on Tuesday as cues from Asian peers are lacklustre. The SGX Nifty Index Future, which was trading at 10,585, suggests Nifty may open with an uptick of 25 points. On the earnings front, Voltas, Manappuram Finance, Aditya Birla Capital, Dr Lal Path Labs will release their results today.  
  
Asian markets were mixed in early deals on Tuesday after a muted session on the Wall Street ahead of mid-term elections. The Japanese stock market Nikkei 225 has surged 1.01 per cent, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng has decreased 0.36  per cent and China’s Shanghai Composite index has lost 0.48 per cent.  
  
Back home, key benchmark indices remained range-bound at the start of the trading week as investors remained on the sidelines in a muted session in the absence of any major trigger. The key indices opened the session on a cautious note and traded in a capped range for the day to close marginally lower on Monday. In the end, Nifty settled lower by 0.27 per cent at 10,524 and the BSE Sensex dipped 0.17 per cent to close at 34,951. In line with frontline indices, the Nifty Midcap and Smallcap slipped 0.39 per cent each. Talking about the sectoral performance, Nifty PSU Bank and Nifty Realty gained the most, while Nifty Media and Nifty Pharma ended as top losers.  
  
The US stocks registered mixed performance on Monday, with the Dow and the S&P 500 closing the session in the green, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq slipped into the negative terrain. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.8 per cent; the S&P 500 added 0.6 per cent, whereas the tech-heavy Nasdaq dropped 0.4 per cent. In the economic news, the ISM said its non-manufacturing index settled at 60.3 for the month of October, which was a slightly better number than had been expected. Tuesday’s highly anticipated mid-term election results will garner attention for cues on the future balance of power in Washington.  
  
The European markets lacked clear direction on Monday as the Eurozone investors’ confidence declined more than expected for November and the UK services sector growth slowed down more than forecasted for October, as reported by the Markit. The DAX of Germany weakened by 0.16 per cent and the CAC of France slipped 0.02 per cent, while UK’s FTSE 100 gained by 0.14 per cent.