Markets likely to make slightly negative start on Friday

Indian markets ended volatile session in red territory with marginal cut on Thursday as investors booked profits and avoided long positions amid tepid global cues. Today, the start of session is likely to be flat-to-negative amid rise in crude oil prices. There will be some cautiousness as ratings agency ICRA expects India's growth rate to further slowdown to 4.7% in second quarter ended September 30, 2019, amid subdued domestic demand and weak investment activity. Also, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) marginally cut India’s economic growth forecast for 2019 to 5.8%. Traders will be concerned with report that claiming that India will need another 22 years of sustained growth to become a developed country, former Reserve Bank of India (RBI) governor C Rangarajan said that at the current growth rate, India becoming a $5 trillion economy by 2025 is simply out of question. However, markets participants may take some support later in the day with positive leads from Asian peers. Traders may take note of report that India and the United States are in talks to resolve trade issues and both New Delhi and Washington hope to find an early solution. Besides, markets regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has asked listed companies to disclose any loan default within 24 hours of any failure to repay principal or interest amount to banks or financial institutions beyond 30 days. The decision is aimed at addressing the gaps in the availability of information to investors. There will be some buzz in the banking stocks with the Finance Ministry’s statement that public sector banks disbursed a record Rs 2.52 lakh crore of loans during the festive month of October. There will be some reaction in infra stocks with the government’s statement that 566 national highway projects are running behind schedule and no project has been put on hold. Meanwhile, CSB Bank's initial public offering (IPO) will open for subscription on November 22 and has a price band of Rs 193 to Rs 195 per share.

The US markets ended lower on Thursday as investors remained on sidelines on no concrete signs of progress on US-China relations. Asian markets are trading mostly in green on Friday, bouncing from a three-week low touched a day earlier, but gains were capped by persistent worries over the status of trade negotiations between China and US.

Back home, Indian equity bourses ended the highly volatile day near their intraday low points. The start of the day was slightly higher, amid the retirement fund body, Employment Provident Fund Organisation’s (EPFO) latest Provisional Estimate of Net Payroll data report showing that India created 9,98,051 new jobs in the month of September 2019 as against revised figure of 9,41,800 in August 2019. As per the report, the maximum jobs were created in the age bracket of 22-25. But soon, markets turned volatile, impacted by a private report stating that India’s economic growth probably hit a new low last quarter, with early forecasts showing expansion below 5%. In the last hour of the trading session, key markets extended their losses to settle in negative terrain, on the back of weak cues from the global markets. Investors remained anxious with the Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal’s statement that the government did not join the mega free trade agreement RCEP as the grouping did not address the outstanding issues and concerns of India. The street paid no heed towards the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) latest data report stating that bank credit rose by 8.07 percent to Rs 98.47 trillion, while deposits grew 9.92 percent to Rs 129.98 trillion in the fortnight ended November 6. Finally, the BSE Sensex lost 76.47 points or 0.19% to 40,575.17, while the CNX Nifty was down by 30.70 points or 0.26% to 11,968.40.