Sensex, Nifty Likely To Have A Firm Opening

The domestic stock markets are likely to open in the green, building on the momentum witnessed last week, going by early indications from SGX Nifty futures. At 7:30 am, the Nifty futures were trading at 18,434 on the Singapore Stock Exchange.

US stocks rose on Friday and the Dow scored its biggest weekly percentage gain since June, as Goldman Sachs rounded out a week of strong quarterly earnings for the big banks. Goldman Sachs Group shares jumped 3.8 per cent and gave the Dow its biggest boost, as a record wave of dealmaking activity drove a surge in the bank's quarterly profit.

The Dow Jones rose 1.09 per cent to 35,294.76, the S&P 500 gained 0.75 per cent and Nasdaq Composite added 0.5 per cent.

Asian shares were on edge on Monday morning ahead of the release of Chinese economic data for the third quarter, as investors fret about the health of the world's second-largest economy.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was little changed in early trading on Monday, while Japan's Nikkei lost 0.12 per cent.

On the earnings front, UltraTech Cement, L&T Infotech and Alok Industries will declaare their results during the day.

On Thursday, the BSE Sensex rallied 568.90 points or 0.94 per cent to close at 61,305.95 and the Nifty jumped 176.70 points or 0.97 per cent to end at record closing high of 18,338.50.