Sensex Set to Open on Quiet Note on Last Day of The Year

The Sensex and Nifty are likely to open on a quite note on last day of 2015 as indicated by Nifty futures traded on the Singapore Stock Exchange ahead of the expiration of derivative contracts for the month of December which is due today.

The Singapore Nifty or SGX Nifty was up 0.05 per cent or 4 points at 7,913 indicating a flat start for the Indian markets.

Among other Asian markets, China's Shanghai Composite index was down 0.10 per cent and Hang Seng was up 0.16 per cent. At the same time, Japanese and South Korean stock markets are shut today on account of New Year holiday.

Meanwhile, global economic growth will be disappointing next year and the outlook for the medium-term has also deteriorated, the head of the International Monetary Fund said in a guest article for German newspaper Handelsblatt published on Wednesday.

IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde said the prospect of rising interest rates in the United States and an economic slowdown in China were contributing to uncertainty and a higher risk of economic vulnerability worldwide.

Added to that, growth in global trade has slowed considerably and a decline in raw material prices is posing problems for economies based on these, while the financial sector in many countries still has weaknesses and financial risks are rising in emerging markets, she said.

Overnight, Wall Street dropped on Wednesday as Brent crude slid towards 11-year lows and Apple weighed on the S&P 500 index, which clung to a meager gain for 2015.

The S&P energy sector was the poorest performer among the 10 major sectors, down 1.47 per cent after forecasts of a short winter in North America and Europe piled pressure on the oversupplied commodity.

The major indices deepened their declines in the last few minutes of trade. The Dow Jones industrial average finished 0.66 per cent weaker at 17,603.87 points and the S&P 500 lost 0.72 per cent to 2,063.36.

The Nasdaq Composite dropped 0.82 percent to 5,065.85.

Back home, the foreign institutional investors bought shares worth Rs 152 crore while domestic investors sold shares worth Rs 74 crore on Wednesday.