Markets to make a cautious start on sluggish global cues

The Indian markets bucking the global trend moved higher in last session, encouraged by the statement of Finance Minister that the country is much better placed than others. Today, the start is likely to be cautious as the global cues are not very supportive. Meanwhile, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has said that the government is following the approach of 'Reform to Transform' through far-reaching structural reforms and has initiated several initiatives to boost investment climate and improve Ease of doing Business. Traders will be getting some support with the report that the country received $ 48 billion in remittances in the first nine months of the previous fiscal. India received $66.26 billion in 2014-15, while the amount was $ 65.48 billion in 2013-14. There will be some buzz in the markets with RBI issuing draft norms for on-tap licensing for universal banks. There will be some action in the export oriented stocks, as the government has eased norm for availing export benefits under Merchandise Exports India Scheme (MEIS). Exporters have been relieved from submitting the landing certificate of goods to avail benefits under the MEIS, a move aimed at facilitating ease of doing business.

There will be some important earnings too, to keep the markets in action. Birla Corp, Titan, Siemens India, Wockhardt, Reliance Capital, Pfizer Eveready, JK Paper, Inox Wind and Equitas will be among many to report their numbers.

The US markets made almost a flat closing in last session, with tech heavy Nasdaq falling to its lowest closing level in almost two months. Traders seemed reluctant to make significant moves ahead of the monthly jobs report on Friday. The Asian markets have once again made a soft start, with some of the indices headed for the biggest weekly loss since February, led by the Japanese market which is down by around a percent, coming after a long break.

Back home, after witnessing drubbing in the last three sessions, Indian benchmark indices witnessed a smart recovery in the second half on Thursday and ended the day in the green, however the trade remained volatile. Sentiments got a boost after Finance Minister Arun Jaitley stated that India’s economic situation is by far the best in the world and the country has the potential to do even better. The minister enlightened that India is doing much better than other economics and has maintained 7.65% growth in FY16 Vs 7.2% in FY15 despite international headwinds. Besides, positive trend across the European peers and rise in the crude oil prices also supported the indices. However, investors also remained cautious with a private report stating that India's GDP is likely to 'auto correct', and the headline growth of the country in this fiscal is expected to remain flat at 7.4 per cent. According to the report, India's new GDP series seem to exaggerate the economy's true growth rate and this overestimation is likely to narrow over the next few quarters. On the global front, Asian markets ended mostly lower on Thursday, while the European stocks edged slightly higher in early trade. Back home, the local benchmark indices started the day on optimistic note on the back of value-buying by retail investors in beaten-down stocks. Sentiments got some support with report that India is considering setting up an independent panel to help state-owned banks negotiate settlements with big businesses on bad loans, in order to shield bankers from a populist backlash they say is hobbling efforts to clean up their balance sheets. Besides, recovery in Indian rupee too aided sentiments. Finally, the BSE Sensex ended at 25262.21, up by 160.48 points or 0.64%, while the Nifty ended at 7,735.50, up by 28.95 points or 0.38%.