India : Markets may open negative owing to global unrest on the Syria front

Indian benchmark indices got off to a weak start, and thereafter traded in a tight range for the most part of the trading session, however, sentiments got a boost in the last hour of trade after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) maintained status quo on policy rate by leaving the repurchase rate (or repo rate) unchanged at 6.25 per cent, however, it raised the reverse repo rate by 25 basis points to 6 per cent. Finally, the NSE’s 50-share broadly followed index – Nifty settled with marginal losses of three points above the psychological 9250 levels, while Bombay Stock Exchange’s Sensitive Index – Sensex shed forty six points and closed above the psychological 29900 mark.The European markets began Thursday’s session firmly in negative territory as investors had their first opportunity to react to the minutes from the Federal Reserve’s March meeting. However, the markets pared their early losses over the course of the trading session, and most ended the session with marginal gains. The DAX of Germany climbed 0.11 per cent and the CAC 40 of France rose 0.58 per cent. The FTSE 100 of the U.K. declined 0.39 per cent.The U.S. stocks closed off intraday highs on Thursday as President, Donald Trump, hosted Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping for their first official meeting. The Dow Jones Industrial average gained 15 points to finish at 20,663. The Nasdaq Composite Index climbed 14 points to end at 5,879. The S&P index rose 5 points to close at 2,357.Asian markets turned negative on Friday after reports of U.S. strikes on Syria. Japan’s Nikkei 225 skid 19 points. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng plunged 270 points and the Shanghai Composite is trading flat.At 8:04 am, SGX Nifty Index was trading lower by 53 points at 9214, indicating a negative start for Indian equities, the sharp fall in the SGX Nifty came in after reports flashed that the U.S. launched a cruise missile attack against Syria two days after Bashar al-Assad’s government used poison gas to kill scores of civilians. India’s parliament on Thursday passed four legislations to pave the way for roll out of the historic Goods and Services Tax (GST) from July 1.