India : Markets likely to open positive; MPC’s decision will provide further direction

The Indian Stock Markets on Tuesday opened almost flat with positive bias taking cues from the global market, but hopes of interest rate cut by the central bank aided sentiment, nevertheless in the final hour of trade markets took a U-turn and closed near the neutral line. However, the markets managed to extend the winning streak for the second straight session. In the sectoral space, the top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 1.73 per cent, Oil & Gas up by 1.17 per cent, Metal up by 0.74 per cent, PSU up by 0.58 per cent and Power up by 0.57; while FMCG was down by 0.77 per cent, Consumer Durables down by 0.73 per cent and Auto down by 0.38 per cent, which were the notable losing indices on BSE. Finally, the NSE’s 50-share broadly followed index Nifty added 14.40 points to 8143.15, while Sensex gained around 43.66 points to end the session at 26392.76. European stocks moved higher on Tuesday as utility shares gained and banks recovered from the fallout from this weekend’s referendum in Italy. The French CAC 40 ended with gains of 1.24 per cent at 4,631.94 while the German DAX was up by 0.84 per cent to 10,775.32 and FTSE 100 was up by 0.49 per cent to 6,779.84.U.S stocks rose on Tuesday, with the Dow Jones industrial average finishing at an all-time high for the second day in a row, as the theme of rotational buying into new leaders such as financials and dividend-rich telecommunication shares continued. The market’s momentum, however, was subdued as investors appeared to trade cautiously ahead of important policy meeting of the European Central Bank. The Dow Jones industrial average added 35.54 points to end at 19,251.78. The S&P 500 gained 7.52 points to finish at 2,212.23. The Nasdaq Composite added 24.11 points to close at 5,333.  Asian shares on December 7 are mostly trading higher, with Japan’s benchmark index up on a Trump announcement that saw SoftBank shares gain smartly, though China markets bucked the trend. Nikkei 225 is trading up by 0.35 per cent to 18,424.79, Hang Seng is trading higher by 0.23 per cent at 22,727.70. Shanghai Composite is trading flat to negative, down by 5.81 points at 3193.84.At 8:00 am, SGX Nifty is trading 4.50 points higher at 8177.50, indicating a steady start for Indian equities. Investors and traders will be awaiting cues from the monetary policy committee’s bi-monthly policy data later in the day.