Sensex, Nifty Likely To Have A Weak Start
The markets are set to have a soft opening this morning, in line with the weak cues emanating from the global market front. The SGX Nifty is negative in early trading and the Asian markets have also had a weak opening.
The Nifty futures were trading with a loss of 57.80 points or 0.65 per cent at 8,872 on the Singapore Exchange. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan fell 0.6 per cent. In Japan, where a Reuters survey showed most firms feel stimulus measures announced so far are insufficient, the Nikkei fell 1.3 per cent.
US stocks fell on Wednesday as dismal economic data and first-quarter earnings reports compounded concerns over the extent of damage from the coronavirus outbreak. The Dow Jones fell 445.41 points, or 1.86 per cent, to 23,504.35, the S&P 500 lost 62.7 points, or 2.20 per cent, to 2,783.36 and Nasdaq Composite dropped 122.56 points, or 1.44 per cent, to 8,393.18.
Oil rose on Thursday, with US crude rebounding from near-20-year lows in the previous session on hopes that a big build-up in US inventories may force producers to deepen output cuts. Brent crude was up 69 cents, or 2.5 per cent, at $28.38 a barrel by 0102 GMT. US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) was up 56 cents, or 2.8 per cent, at $20.43.
Meanwhile, merchandise exports fell 34.6 per cent to $21.41 billion in March from a year earlier, while imports were down 28.7 per cent to $31.16 billion during the same period, a trade ministry statement said on Wednesday.
And former RBI governor C Rangarajan expects negative growth in the GDP in the first quarter. But if the situation recovers in the next three quarters, the growth rate may be closer to 3.5 per cent, he reckons.
Benchmark indices failed to hold on gains and closed in the red on Wednesday. The Sensex closed 310 points, or 1.01 per cent, down at 30,379.81, while Nifty finished 69 points, or 0.76 per cent, lower at 8,925.30.
