Indian stock markets witnesses cautious trading in morning session

The BSE Sensex opened on a cautious note on Friday morning. Losses were booked in Infosys, Axis Bank, HDFC Bank, Tata Motors, Maruti, and Cipla. 

The Nifty50 also came under heavy selling pressure and traded around its crucial level of 8,850 supported by gains in realty, capital goods, and consumer durable stocks. 

In the morning hours, Adlabs Entertainment Ltd rose 16% to Rs.96.90 on the back of higher volumes. On Thursday according to bulk deal data on NSE Insync Cap bought 3.5 lakh shares in the company.

The rupee has weakened marginally against the US dollar at 66.73 per dollar,tracking the losses in its Asian peers. The 10-year bond yield stood at 6.808%, a level last seen on 10 June 2009, compared to its Thursday’s close of 6.81%.

US benchmark crude oil futures loses 52 cents to $45.80 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude falls 44 cents to $47.77 a barrel.

Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 index dips 0.1% to 16,786.89 while South Korea’s Kospi crept up 0.2% to 2,053.50. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng edges up 0.1% to 23,776.37 and the Shanghai Composite Index in mainland China dips 0.2% 3,037.46. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 rises 0.6% to 5,404.50.

Asian stock markets have been pretty stable on Friday, holding on to gains in the week courtesy the US and Japanese central bank policy decisions favourable low rates policy.

Major US benchmarks finished with solid gains. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 0.5% to 18,392.46. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index gained 0.7% to 2,177.18 and the Nasdaq composite climbed 0.8% to 5,339.52.