Sensex, Nifty Likely To Have A Gap-Down Opening

The domestic stock markets are expected to open in the red, extending the losses witnessed in the previous session, following shaky Asian cues and weak trends in the SGX Nifty futures. The Asian markets are weak in early trading and trends on SGX Nifty indicate a gap-down opening for the index in India with a 112 points loss. At 7:35 am, the Nifty futures were trading at 10,188.25, down 112 points or 1.08 per cent, on the Singapore Stock Exchange.

The pressures of derivative rollovers, this being the last day of F&O June series, are further likely to dent the sentiment on the bourses.

Asian markets were set to follow a tumble in Wall Street stocks and oil prices on Thursday after surging U.S. coronavirus cases and the International Monetary Fund's downgrade to global economic projections shook confidence in a recovery.

Japan's Nikkei 225 futures fell 1.1 per cent. Markets in Hong Kong and mainland China are closed for public holidays on Thursday.

Wall Street's three major indexes on Wednesday suffered their biggest daily percentage drop in almost two weeks as a surge in U.S. coronavirus cases intensified fears of another round of government lockdowns and worsening economic damage.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 2.72 per cent, the S&P 500 lost 2.59 per cent and Nasdaq Composite dropped 2.19 per cent.

Meanwhile, oil prices tumbled over 5 per cent, or more than $2 a barrel on Wednesday, after U.S. crude storage hit another record and coronavirus cases rebounded in countries like Germany and surged in heavily populated areas of the United States.

Brent crude settled at $40.31 a barrel, down $2.32, or 5.4 per cent. On Tuesday, Brent hit its highest price since early March, just before the pandemic and Saudi-Russia price war roiled markets. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude settled at $38.01 a barrel, losing $2.36, or 5.8 per cent.

The Sensex had ended at 34,868.98, down 561.45 points - or 1.58 per cent , whereas the Nifty shed 165.70 points or 1.58 per cent to settle at 10,305.30 on Wednesday