Markets to get a flat-to-positive start tailing mixed global cues

The Indian markets showed enthusiastic performance in last session coming after a long weekend; today the start is likely to be in green though some volatility too can be expected owing to F&O expiry later in the week. Markets are likely to get some encouragement with Finance Minister Arun Jaitley's statement that rolling out the ambitious GST regime is 'certainly' doable in 2016 and he is in continuous touch with the Congress party in a bid to persuade them to cooperate. Meanwhile, the Vijay Kelkar Committee on reviving PPP model has suggested the government should encourage development of infrastructure sectors, including airports, ports and railways under the public private partnership mode by ensuring easier funding for projects with long gestation period. The oil and gas sector will be in action and the PSU oil marketing companies may see some upmove, on a steep drop in international oil prices. Also, the government has decided to limit supply of under-priced fuel to cut subsidies, accordingly tax payers with annual income of more than Rs 10 lakh will not get subsidised cooking gas (LPG) from next month. 

The US markets despite coming off the day’s low ended marginally in red on Monday, offsetting the strong upward move seen in the previous week. Profit booking along with the decline in crude prices contributed to the fall of the markets for the day. The Asian markets have made mostly a positive start, though the Chinese market was marginally in red, still being weighed down by report of drop in industrial profits.

Back home, Indian equity markets presented a good show on the first day of the F&O expiry week and after a flat start in the backdrop of mixed global cues, surged to post good gain for the day. Sentiments remained up-beat with World Bank chief economist Kaushik Basu’s statement that the bank may revise its GDP growth projection for India after it goes for a stock-taking in a few months. He also added that the recession in Brazil and Russia and slowdown in China have made India the leading economy in terms of growth prospects for the first time this year. Some support also came with the report that India could become the world's third largest economy after 2030 and its ascension could see France and Italy kicked out of the exclusive G8 group or its membership increased to 10 to accommodate India and Brazil. India's projected GDP in 2030 was $10,133 billion, behind America's $32,996 billion and China at the top with a projected GDP of $34,338 billion. However, investor remained cautious with Ficci’s report, which indicates that the revival prospects for India's manufacturing sector in the October-December quarter seem to be weakening mainly due to a sluggish exports scenario. Exports are primarily responsible for this less optimistic outlook besides domestic factors like poor demand conditions, high interest costs etc. On the global front, Asian markets ended mixed in post Christmas break trade, while European equities traded mixed in early deals. Back home, the benchmark got off to a soft start with the indices showing signs of consolidation in early trade as investors remained cautious ahead of F&O expiry of the December series, scheduled for December 31, 2015. But the frontline indices slowly but steadily started gathering steam and surged by around half a percent by late morning trades. Sentiments got some support with Finance Minister Arun Jaitley’s statement that structural reforms including GST, rationalising direct taxes and ease of doing business are among top priorities for New Year. Finally, the BSE Sensex surged by 195.42 points or 0.76% to 26034.13, while the CNX Nifty gained 64.10  points or 0.82% to 7,925.15.