The
key domestic benchmarks are likely to open little changed today tracking a mixed
trend in fellow Asian peers even as oil rebounded while US consumer sentiment
hit an eleven-year high this month, signaling a pickup in the world’s biggest
economy. China’s Shanghai Composite plunged while Hang Seng was trading lower as
brokerages tumbled after regulators took measures to stem margin trading at
three of the country’s major securities firms. Japan’s Nikkei 225 was trading
higher as a weaker yen boosted the appeal of exporter stocks. Back home,
investors are expected to react negatively to earnings numbers from Reliance
Industries Limited (RIL) which posted its first decline in net profits in nine
quarters in Q3 FY 2014-15 as plunging crude prices hit refining margins while
India’s third biggest software services exporter Wipro posted tepid revenue
growth, raising concerns over a slowdown in the IT sector. However, optimism
over the economic outlook amid last week’s surprise rate cut will continue to
offer support to the Sensex.
