Global cues negative; can Reliance Q4 nos lift Nifty today?
Global cues are negative with the Asian markets starting the week on the back foot, following a lower finish on Wall Street on Friday.
Moneycontrol Bureau
The Indian equity market is likely to open in the green as suggested by SGX Nifty, that was trading at 8618.00, up 3 points at 7:20 am.
The marginal uptick will be welcomed by traders as the market continued its downtrend for the third consecutive session on Friday due to profit booking and weak global cues.
The broader markets followed the same trend too. The 30-share BSE Sensex lost 223.94 points to 28442.10. The 50-share NSE Nifty saw an intraday low of 8596.70, down 100.70 points or 1.16 percent to close at 8606.
Global cues, meanwhile, too are negative with the Asian markets starting the week on the back foot, following a lower finish on Wall Street on Friday. The negative sentiment is also on back of China’s move to lower the reserve requirement ratio for all banks by 100 basis points fails to boost sentiment.
In other asset classes, the dollar is off to a sluggish start as underwhelming US data prompted the market to trim long positions.
Nymex crude prices rose above USD 56 per barrel on the back of continued turmoil in Yemen and worries over lower US oil output.
And from the precious metals space, gold rose above USD 1200 an ounce after data showing US consumer prices rose in March tempered speculation the Federal Reserve will delay its first interest rate rise in nearly a decade.
Back home, a sharp increase in gold imports and a slight uptick in the oil imports pushed up the trade deficit for March by almost USD 6 billion to come in at USD 11.79 billion despite exports growing by nearly USD 2 billion.
And there’s some relief for FIIs in the Rs 40,000 crore minimum alternate tax (MAT) tussle. The government has allowed investors to avail benefits under the double taxation avoidance agreements (DTAA). This will give a reprieve to FIIs from Singapore and Mauritius.
Furthermore Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has ordered the new income tax returns (ITR) form to be put on hold pending a review. Revenue Secretary has told CNBC-TV18 that the FM has called for a review of the new ITR forms to make them simpler.
And in the earnings corner Reliance Industries delivered its best ever quarterly performance with its profits rising over 22 percent sequentially. The company’s Gross Refining Margins (GRMs) are at a 2-year high and that offsets weakness in other segments.
