India : Markets may open flat to negative as Trump sweeps IT and Pharma sectors off their feet

Indian benchmark indices after starting the session on a negative note, never looked confident throughout the session and ended the week near the low levels on Friday. The Cement stocks were under pressure after the Competition Commission of India (CCI) imposed penalties aggregating to almost Rs 207 crore on seven major cement companies for rigging of bids and cartelisation to get tenders in Haryana government’s orders. Shree Cement, UltraTech Cement, Jaiprakash Associates, JK Cement, Ambuja Cements, ACC and JK Lakshmi Cement have been slapped with fines of Rs 18.44 crore, Rs 68.3 crore, Rs 38.02 crore, Rs 9.26 crore, Rs 29.84 crore, Rs 35.32 crore and Rs 6.55 crore, respectively. To finish, the NSE’s 50-share broadly followed index Nifty, tumble by over a per cent to settle below the crucial 8,350 support level; while Bombay Stock Exchange’s Sensitive Index-Sensex tumbled over two hundred and fifty points and closed below the psychological 27,100 mark.Most of the European markets ended in the positive territory on Friday.  The DAX of Germany climbed 0.29 per cent and the CAC 40 of France rose 0.20 per cent. The FTSE 100 of the U.K. declined 0.14 per cent.The U.S. stocks  finished higher, starting the Donald Trump Presidency in the green. Trump took the oath of office to become the nation’s 45th President, and he called for measures to support American workers, in addition to offering a few additional details that could provide clarity to investors about his legislative priorities. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 92 points to finish at 19,824. The S&P 500 rose 7 points to close at 2,271 and the Nasdaq Composite Index advanced 15 points.Asian stocks are trading in the mix on Monday. Nikkei 225 is trading lower by 1.21 per cent at 18,909.11. Whereas, Hong Kong’s index, Hang Seng surged over 0.76 per cent; and China’s index, Shanghai Composite is trading with gains of 0.51per cent.At 7:47 am, SGX Nifty Index shed 17 points to 8,355, indicating a soft start for Indian equities. Indian stocks, particularly those from the IT and the Pharmaceuticals space are likely to see wild swings with investors reacting to U.S. President Donald Trump’s speech on Friday. A large number of companies are set to announce their earnings through the day.