Sensex, Nifty Likely To Have A Cautious Start

The domestic stock markets are likely to open on a cautious note, post the nearly 2 per cent rally witnessed on Friday, going by muted global cues. Asian markets have had a quite opening and SGX Nifty futures are trading mildly in the negative. At 7:30 am, the SGX Nifty futures were trading at 15,187, lower by 38 points, on the Singapore Stock Exchange.

Asian shares got off to a cautious start on Monday as investors anxiously awaited a key read on U.S. inflation this week for guidance on monetary policy, while Bitcoin took a hammering after China cracked down on mining and trading of the cryptocurrency.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was barely changed in slow trade. Japan's Nikkei added 0.1 per cent and South Korea was flat.

US stocks ended mostly lower on Friday, weighed down by technology and consumer discretionary shares, while the dollar edged higher after stronger-than-expected US manufacturing data.

The Dow Jones rose 0.36 per cent, whereas the S&P 500 lost 0.08 per cent and Nasdaq Composite dropped 0.48 per cent.

On the earnings front, Grasim Industries, India Cements, JK Paper and Mahanagar Gas will declare their Q4 numbers during the day.

Meanwhile, oil prices rose on Monday as a storm formed in the Gulf of Mexico and Iran said a three-month nuclear monitoring deal had expired.

Brent crude oil futures for July rose 32 cents, or 0.5 per cent, to $66.76 a barrel and U.S. West Texas Intermediate for July was at $63.93 a barrel, up 35 cents, or 0.6 per cent.

On Friday, the BSE Sensex had skyrocketed by 975.62 points or 1.97 per cent to 50,540.48 and Nifty had climbed 269.30 points or 1.81 per cent to 15,175.30.