Markets to get a mildly positive start in the new week

The Indian markets continued their slide and made another dismal closing in the last session. Today, the start is likely to be in green and some recovery can be expected in the new week led by the positive global cues. Market men will be getting some support with international credit rating agency Fitch’s latest report on Global Economic Outlook saying that India is the only BRIC nation, where growth will accelerate, to 8 per cent in FY16 and 8.3 per cent in FY17, based on revised data series. There will be some buzz in the banking stocks, as the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has conceded to the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI’s) proposal that banks be exempt from the market regulator's norms on pricing of shares while converting debt into equity in defaulting companies. Steel stocks too will be in action, on report that India has overtaken the US to become the third-largest steel producer in the world with a production of 14.56 million tonnes (MT) in first two months of the year.

The US markets ended higher in last session with Nasdaq making a fifteen year closing high on weak dollar. The Asian markets have made mostly a positive start, with some of the indices extending a six-month high. The Chinese market too was trading with gains despite  China’s securities regulator urging investors to consider risks from the nation’s surging stock market.

Back home, extending their losing streak to third straight day, Indian equity benchmarks ended the session near intraday low levels with key indices ending below their crucial 28,300 (Sensex) and 8,600 (Nifty) levels. Friday’s session turned out to be a choppy day of trade for the Indian equity markets as traders remained on sidelines focussing on domestic developments included the ongoing budget session in Parliament. Meanwhile, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley referring to doubts expressed by various sections over the GDP figure of 7.4 percent for 2014-15 as projected by the Central Statistical Organisation's (CSO), sought to dispel doubts, saying that the GDP calculations are made independently by the CSO, which is a credible organisation. Additionally, the losses also came on the back of participants slashing their position into equities ahead of the volatile F&O expiry week. Investors also failed to draw any sense of relief from report that global rating agency Fitch said India’s gross domestic product (GDP) to grow at 8.0% in 2015-16 and 8.3% in the next fiscal, based on the new data series. The forecasts according to earlier series were 6.5% and 6.8%, respectively. On the global front, European shares inched higher in early deals on Friday, while the Asian stocks ended mostly in the red. Back home, depreciation in Indian rupee too weighed down sentiments. Rupee was trading at 62.54 per dollar at the time of equity markets closing compared with its previous close of 62.52 on fresh demand for the American currency from importers. Banking shares continued to reel under pressure for the second straight day with the National Stock Exchange (NSE) Bank Nifty index fallen nearly three percentage points in two days. Finally, the BSE Sensex dropped by 208.59 points or 0.73% to 28261.08, while the CNX Nifty plunged by 63.75 points or 0.74% to 8,570.90.