Markets to make a flat-to-mildly positive start

The Indian markets managed to end the Monday’s trade in green terrain supported by fresh buying in last leg of trade. Today, the start is likely to be flat to mildly in green. Traders will be taking some support with SBI’s report that the government is likely to achieve its fiscal deficit target of 3.2 per cent this financial year as the budgeted disinvestment receipts are on track to realise Rs 72,500 crore. The report noted that the government will able to meet the disinvestment target of Rs 72,500 crore as Rs 60,000 crore has already been achieved and hence the fear of low disinvestment receipts is completely unwarranted. Traders will be eyeing India’s second biggest software exporter Infosys’ second quarter earnings to be released later in the day and all eyes will be on co-founder Nandan Nilekani, who took over as the non-executive chairman of the company after a boardroom reshuffle in August. Stocks related to infrastructure sector will remain buzzing on report that 331 infrastructure projects, each worth Rs 150 crore or above, have seen a cost overrun of Rs 1.72 lakh crore because of various reasons including delays. Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation monitors infrastructure projects worth Rs 150 and above. Meanwhile, there will be lots of earnings announcements too will keep the markets in action.

The US markets ended lower on Monday, as traders seem reluctant to make significant moves amid a quiet day on the U.S. economic front. Asian markets have made a mixed start on Tuesday after US stocks lost steam overnight and the dollar edged down from three-month highs.

Back home, Indian equity benchmarks managed to end volatile session of trade in green terrain on Monday, with frontline gauges ending above their crucial 10,150 (Nifty) and 32,500 (Sensex) levels. Markets witnessed immense volatility during the trade as traders remained watchful ahead of F&O expiry and Infosys earnings due later this week. Key gauges kicked off the session on optimistic note with traders taking encouragement with 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. Some support also came 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. However, markets pared all of their early gains and entered into red terrain in noon deals on report that foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) however pulled out Rs 3,408 crore ($523 million) from equities on account of profit booking during this period. Fresh bout of buying in last leg of trade helped markets to end with a gain of over one third of a percent. Sentiments turned up-beat with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s statement that the Indian economy is on track and is going in the right direction on back of various reforms and hard decisions. He also assured that the government will continue to take important decisions regarding the economic reforms. Some support also came with Union Minister of Minority Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi’s statement that the GST will remain as a Good and Simple Tax in the coming days to come. Adding some optimism, the private report stated that the Indian economy is expected to see a rebound in the July-September quarter of this year with a GVA growth rate of 6.3 percent. Finally, the BSE Sensex surged 116.76 points or 0.36% to 32,506.72, while the CNX Nifty was up by 38.30 points or 0.38% to 10,184.85.