Sensex, Nifty Likely To Have A Gap-Down Opening

At 7:30 am, the Nifty futures were trading weaker by 0.1.7 per cent on Singapore Stock Exchange

The domestic stock markets are likely to open in the red on the back of negative global cues. Trends on SGX Nifty indicate a gap-down opening for the index in India, with a 205-points loss. At 7:30 am, the Nifty futures were trading at 14,783, weaker by 205 points or 0.1.7 per cent on the Singapore Stock Exchange.

Asian markets are trading lower following a sell-off in tech stocks that weighed down major U.S. indexes overnight. Japan’s Nikkei 225 led declines in early trade, shedding around 2.2 per cent and Topix moved 1.7 per cent lower. South Korea’s Kospi fell around 1.4 per cent.

Overnight, the Dow Jones hit a record high on hopes that interest rates would remain lower for longer, while the S&P 500 was subdued as a slide in technology shares offset a surge in commodity-linked energy and material stocks.

The Dow Jones was up 0.86 per cent, while the S&P 500 was down 0.01 per cent and Nasdaq Composite was down 1.50 per cent .

Meanwhile, oil prices settled higher on Monday after a major U.S. fuel pipeline said it could largely restart within the week after a cyber-attack forced its shutdown.

Brent crude settled up 4 cents, or 0.1 per cent, at $68.32 a barrel. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude settled up 2 cents, or 0.03 per cent at $64.92. Both benchmarks rose more than 1 per cent last week, their second consecutive weekly gain.

On the earnings front, Siemens, BASF India and Godrej Consumer Products will declare their earnings during the day.

On Monday, the BSE Sensex gained 295.94 points to close at 49,502.41 and the Nifty rose 119.20 points to 14,942.40 to gain for the fourth day in a row.