Market Ahead, December 20: Top factors that could guide markets today

In the absence of any key domestic trigger, investors will eye global cues and stock-specific action for market direction today.

According to a Business Standard report, Tata Sons is looking at approaching the vacation Bench of the Supreme Court for a stay against the NCLAT order to reverse the status of the company from private to public limited and reinstating Cyrus Mistry as a director on its board and on three group firms.

In another news, UTI AMC yesterday filed the draft red herring prospectus for an IPO. The IPO is an offer for sale of 38 million shares by the SBI, Bank of Baroda, LIC, PNB, and T Rowe Price. As such, the Indian banks selling their shares will be in focus in today's session.

Besides these, market participants will track the rupee's movement against the US dollar, foreign fund flow, and the oil price movement for further cues.

In the US, Wall Street’s major indexes resumed their rally with fresh records on Thursday as US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said an initial U.S.-China trade deal would be signed in early January. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.47 per cent, the S&P 500 gained 0.44 per cent, and the Nasdaq Composite  added 0.6 per cent.

Asian shares snoozed near 18-month highs on Friday. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was a fraction firmer in early trade. Japan's Nikkei inched up 0.1 per cent, and South Korea's market added 0.25 per cent on the day. The SGX Nifty is also indicating a flat start for domestic indices.

Yesterday, the Indian markets scaled fresh record highs. The benchmark S&P BSE Sensex, which hit a fresh high of 41,698 in the intra-day deals, closed at 41,674 level, up 115 points. On the NSE, the Nifty50 settled at 12,260-mark, up 38 points.

Going forward, analysts say that the momentum indicator MACD is showing a clear buy crossover in the Nifty with the index forming higher tops and higher bottoms on the daily charts. The immediate support on the lower side is pegged at 12,225; till those levels are not broken, the short-term trend is positive for the target of 12,340.