Markets likely to make a green start on mostly positive global cues

The Indian markets after a choppy day of trade of posted modest decline in last session. Today, the start is likely to be in green but cautiousness will prevail as the   8th meeting of GST Council failed to break deadlock over the issue of dual control of assesses under the new indirect tax regime, an issue that has been holding up supporting bills essential for the GST rollout from April 1 next year and GST looking to become a reality only from September. There will be some support to the markets with report that foreign direct investment (FDI) into the country grew by over 27 percent to $27.82 billion during April-October this fiscal, compared to $21.87 billion in April-October 2015-2016. There will be some buzz in the sugar stocks, as the sugar industry has approached the Prime Minister’s Office and the finance ministry to relax norms for restructuring its loans under the scheme for sustainable structuring of stressed assets (S4A), in view of the rising debt level.

The US markets surged in last session with the S&P 500 ending the day just shy of its record closing high, following the release of the minutes of the Federal Reserve's latest monetary policy meeting. The Asian markets have made a mixed start and the Japanese market was giving up some gains of last session, as the yen extended the gains and as the Crude oil futures were little changed after Wednesday’s advance.

Back home, It turned out to be a disappointing performance from the Indian benchmark indices on Wednesday, as they failed to snap the session in the positive territory and settled slightly below the neutral line. Investors turned jittery after Centre and state governments failed to reach consensus on the issue of dual control at Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council meeting. States such as Kerala and West Bengal are understood to have stuck to their stance and have sought exclusive control over businesses with an annual turnover of Rs 1.5 crore. Sentiments also dampened with the report that India's services industry contracted for a second month in a row in December as orders shrank amid a severe cash shortage. The Nikkei/Markit Services Purchasing Managers' Index was little changed at 46.8 in December from November's 46.7 (a reading below 50 indicates contraction). A new business sub-index, an indicator of domestic and foreign demand, fell to a 39-month low of 46.0 in December from 46.7, even though firms cut prices of their goods despite input costs rising at a faster pace.  Market participants remained cautious over the report that indicate Fiscal impact of the recent measures announced by prime minister Narendra Modi aimed at helping economically weaker sections could be around Rs 3500 crore. Prime Minister had announced three broad schemes including interest rate sops for housing for the poor and farm loans besides financial incentives for pregnant women. Meanwhile, metal stocks came under pressure after the process plant and Machinery Association of India, which represents the Capital Goods and Process Equipment manufacturing industry, urged the government to reduce import duty on steel to 7.5% from 12.5% to correct the inverted duty structure. On the global front, Asian markets ended mostly higher on Wednesday, boosted by a round of factory surveys from China, the euro zone and United States that pointed to more momentum in the global economy. Back home, finally, the BSE Sensex declined 10.11 points or 0.04% to 26633.13, while the CNX Nifty was down by 1.75 points or 0.02% to 8,190.50.