Dalal Street is set to script a soft opening on the last trading session of the week tracking a subdued trend across Asia and a bearish finish at Wall Street overnight while traders resort to a cautious approach ahead of provisional GDP data that will offer further cues over the health of Asia’s third biggest economy. India’s economy probably expanded 7.3 per cent, year on year in the March quarter, slowing slightly from an annual 7.5 per cent growth in the December quarter, while FY 2015 growth was pegged at 7.4 per cent, analysts reckoned. Caution may also prevail ahead of the RBI policy meet on Tuesday with a 25 basis points interest rate cut being speculated. Shares of Sun Pharmaceuticals, Cipla, Glenmark Pharmaceuticals, IOC, OIL, SAIL, Unitech and Mahindra & Mahindra will be in focus today as they unveil their March quarter earnings report card. Coal India may fall after the state-run major reported after market-hours that its net profit fell 4.4 per cent, year on year to Rs 4,239 crore in Q4 FY 2014-15 amid lower realization from the more lucrative e-auction sales. Weakness in the SGX CNX Nifty Index futures for May delivery which fell 0.07 per cent at 8,310.5 at 10:27 am Singapore time, signals a tepid opening at Dalal Street on Friday. Asian stocks were trading mixed as investors stayed cautious ahead of US Q1 GDP data, while Greece’s creditors warned that a deal to unlock fresh aid was not imminent as they urged the debt-ridden nation to make stronger commitments to overhaul its economy and boost public finances. China’s Shanghai Composite fell as brokerages tightened margin lending rules, raising speculation that policymakers were taking steps to cool the stock market rally, Hang Seng registered modest gains while Japan’s Nikkei 225 climbed even as the central bank’s main inflation gauge fell to zero in April, a sign that the country is struggling to claw out of two decades of deflation. US stocks ended lower on Thursday as fears over Greece marred sentiment while investors weighed data showing an uptick in US jobless claims by 7,000 last week. The Sensex retreated 57.95 points or by 0.21 per cent to end at 27,506.71 on Thursday as traders rolled over their positions amidst the expiry of the May Futures & Options (F&O) contracts.
