Positive start to the markets likely amid optimistic cues from Asian peers

Indian markets are likely to witness an optimistic start on the final trading session of the 2018. The SGX Nifty indicates Nifty may open around levels of 10,972 up by 0.46 per cent. Going ahead, market participants will take cues from India’s Infrastructure output data for November month.  
  
Majority of indices in Asia were in the green on the final day of 2018 on the back of optimism about easing of US-China trade tensions as the US President Donald Trump said on Twitter that he had a “long and very good” call with Chinese President Xi Jinping. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng has surged 1.13 per cent and China’s Shanghai Composite Index has advanced 0.44 per cent. while Japanese stocks market Nikkei 225 has dipped 0.31 per cent.  
  
Back home, key indices started off the final trading session of the week on a positive note and it remained in the grip of the bulls throughout the session, with the BSE Sensex gaining 0.75 per cent at 36,077 and Nifty rising 0.74 per cent at 10,860.  The broader indices outperformed the frontline indices with Nifty Mid-cap and Small-cap advancing 0.92 and 1.12 per cent, respectively. On the sectoral front, all indices ended in the green, with Nifty Media and Nifty Pharma being the top gainers  
  
In the US, stocks moved lower for majority of the trading session on Friday before bouncing back in the last leg of trading to end the session on a mixed note. In the economic news, pending home sales fell for the second month, while manufacturing data was higher than forecasted. In the end, the Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 0.33 per cent and the S&P 500 slipped 0.12 per cent, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq added 0.08 per cent.  
  
The European stock markets closed firmly in the green on Friday. German’s consumer price inflation data came in below the estimates in December. The DAX of Germany jumped 1.71 per cent, the CAC of France climbed 1.74 per cent and the UK’s FTSE 100 soared 2.27 per cent.