Indian benchmark indices opened with a positive bias on Friday, and continued to show strength in early trades, but the sentiments turned pessimistic in late morning trades, whereby indices started drifting lower. However, the indices regained their lost momentum in the final hour of trading and finished the day with marginal gains. The NSE’s 50-share broadly followed index, Nifty, added single digit gains to settle above the crucial 8900 support level, while Bombay Stock Exchange’s Sensitive Index or Sensex gained around twenty points and ended above the psychological 28900 mark. After overcoming some early weakness, markets in Europe ended the first session of the fresh trading week with marginal gains. Market participants were in a cautious mood ahead of several key events this week, including the Dutch election and the policy decision by the Federal Reserve. The DAX of Germany climbed 0.22 per cent and the CAC 40 of France rose 0.13 per cent. The FTSE 100 of the U.K. gained 0.33 per cent.
Most of the U.S stocks closed in green ahead of Federal Reserve meeting that is expected to deliver an interest-rate hike. The Dow Jones Industrial Average bucked the trend to slip 21.50 points, and finished at 20881.48. The S&P 500 index rose 0.87 points to close at 2373.47; and the Nasdaq Composite Index edged up 14.06 points to end at 5875.78.Asian markets are trading mixed on Monday. Japan’s Nikkei 225 lost 0.07 per cent; and the Hong Kong’s Hang Seng shed 0.12 per cent. The Shanghai Composite gained 0.20 per cent.At 8:10 am, SGX Nifty index was trading with gains of 5 points at 9201, indicating a positive start for Indian equities. The SGX Nifty index is trading over 240 points over Friday’s closing. The scintillating performance by the BJP in UP State elections will be cheered by market in today’s session.
