Market Ahead, Dec 4: Top factors that could guide markets today

Investors have taken money off the table this week and stayed cautious amid weak global cues and the sentiment is expected to continue ahead of the RBI policy outcome tomorrow. Analysts expect the central bank to cut interest rate by 25 basis points amid concerns that growth momentum is slowing down.

Market participants will get another cue about the state of the economy when Markit Services PMI for November is released later in the day.

Meanwhile, the Union finance ministry has said that global ratings agency Standard and Poor’s had reaffirmed its sovereign credit rating of India at BBB- and maintained its outlook at “stable”.

Fairfax-backed CSB Bank will make a debut on bourses today after a massive subscription of 87 times. Given the huge oversubscription, the IPO is likely to be priced at the upper end of its price band of Rs 193-195 per share. Meanwhile, the IPO of Ujjivan Small Finance Bank was subscribed five times on the second day of the share sale yesterday.

Besides these, investors will track global cues, currency and crude price movement, and foreign fund flow.

On the global front, investors would watch out for developments on the US-China trade deal front.

US President Donald Trump yesterday told reporters in London that there is “no deadline” for an agreement with China to end the tariff war and that a deal to end the dispute might not come until after the November 2020 election.

Trump's comment weighed on global stock markets on Tuesday. As a result, on Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1 per cent, the S&P 500 lost 0.66 per cent, and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 0.55 per cent.

Asian shares extended their losses on Wednesday. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan fell 0.4 per cent. Japan's Nikkei dropped 1 per cent in early trade. Australia's ASX200 was down 1.6 per cent. SGX Nifty also signaled a weak start for the domestic indices.

In commodities, oil steadied on Tuesday and Brent crude futures fell 10 cents to settle at $60.82 a barrel.

In domestic market, the benchmark S&P BSE Sensex settled 127 points lower at 40,675 yesterday, while the Nifty index closed with a loss of 54 points.

Here's a trading idea by Religare Broking who recommend buying Asian Paints around Rs 1,725-Rs 1,735 for the target of Rs 1,800 with stop-loss at Rs 1,700.