Markets to make positive start on firm global cues

The Indian markets witnessed setback on Muhurat trading on Thursday as traders remained on sidelines ahead of Diwali holiday. Today, the start is likely to be in green amid firm global cues. Traders will be looking to buy fundamentally strong stocks after a long weekend. Traders will be getting some encouragement with revenue secretary Hasmukh Adhia’s statement that Policymakers are considering steps to ease the compliance burden related to the goods and services tax (GST) on small businesses and to make product classification for taxation less complicated. Meanwhile, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) is looking to tighten listing norms to prevent fly-by-night operators from getting listed on stock exchanges. Some support may also come with report that Foreign investors have poured a whopping $2 billion into the Indian debt markets so far this month due to lower currency volatility coupled with positive real interest rates. Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) however pulled out Rs 3,408 crore ($523 million) from equities on account of profit booking during this period. There will be some buzz in the gold and jewellery related stocks, as India tightened gold import norms for nominated agencies by restricting them from importing the yellow metal only for export purposes and not for selling in the domestic market. Port and Shipping related stocks too may see some action, as Union Minister Nitin Gadkari has said a blueprint of 142 expansion projects has been finalised to modernise 12 major ports and develop new harbours at a cost of about Rs 90,000 crore.

The US markets ended on firm note on Friday, as traders remained optimistic on report that Senate Republicans approved a budget resolution that will serve as the legislative vehicle for their tax reform plan. Asian markets have made a positive start on Monday, as the dollar spiked to more than three-month highs against the yen following a snap election in Japan on Sunday.

Meanwhile, the Indian markets ended marginally in red on the last session of Samvat 2073, led by the financial stocks as Axis Bank reported a surge in bad loans for the September quarter and there was caution for similar results from other banks too. The Sensex closed at 32,584, 4,654 points, or over 16.67 per cent, higher while the Nifty gained 18.38% from the level where the index traded on Day 1 of Samvat 2073. Markets remained in rally mood throughout the Samvat year amid demonetisation drive announced just after Diwali that sought to curb the menace of black money in the economy and then in second half the implementation of goods and services tax (GST) bill. The gains were propelled by hopes of government reforms and a second straight year of good monsoon rains, which were expected to spur consumption. On Thursday a short muhurat trading was conducted on both the stock exchanges for an hour between 6.30 and 7.30 pm to mark the auspicious beginning of a new Hindu accounting year, Samvat 2074. Muhurat sessions typically sees a rangebound trade and markets generally remain flat but this time it was heart break for the markets when the major averages lost over half a percent in just one hour of trade. The weakness persisted since beginning and indices kept on drifting lower till the last. The mid cap stocks too suffered decline albeit marginal, while the smallcap stocks witnessed some buying, but it was mainly the large cap and especially the banking stocks that dragged the markets lower for the session. Finally the Sensex ended lower by 194.39 points or 0.60% to 32,389.96, while Nifty ended down 64.30 points or 0.63% to 10,146.55.