Sensex, Nifty Likely To Have A Cautious Start
The domestic markets are likely to open on a flat note after global markets remained cautious as investors await further US fiscal stimulus. Trends on SGX Nifty indicate a flat opening for the index in India with a 6 points loss. At 87:30 am, the Nifty futures were trading at 11,220, higher by six points, on the Singapore Stock Exchange.
Asian shares started cautiously on Monday as investors kept one eye on flaring tensions between the United States and China and another eye on U.S. fiscal stimulus after talks between the White House and Democrat lawmakers broke down.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan stayed below a 6-1/2 month peak touched last week to be last at 560.17. Australian shares recouped Friday's losses to be up 0.7 per cent while South Korea's main index added 0.4 per cent.
The S&P 500 retreated from a near six-month high in choppy trading on Friday with data showing a sharp slowdown in US employment growth, while US-China tensions escalated with President Donald Trump's move to ban WeChat and TikTok.
On Friday, the Dow Jones rose 0.17 per cent, the S&P 500 gained 0.06 per cent and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 0.87 per cent. The declines snapped the Nasdaq's seven-session streak of gains.
Meanwhile, oil prices climbed in early trade on Monday, clawing back over half of Friday's losses, on hopes for a stimulus deal to shore up the U.S. economic recovery and a pledge from Iraq to deepen its crude oil supply cuts.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures rose 49 cents, or 1.2 per cent, to $41.71 a barrel at 0010 GMT, while Brent crude futures were up 40 cents, or 0.9 per cent, at $44.80 a barrel.
On the corporate front, Bank of Baroda, Power Grid Corporation and Titan would be among the major companies to declare their Q1 earnings during the day.
The S&P BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty 50 indexes had ended on a flat note on Friday; the Sensex ended 15 points higher at 38,040 and Nifty advanced 14 points to close at 11,214.