Global cues positive; can Nifty see new record highs today?

The Indian equity market is likely to open in the green today with the SGX Nifty, an indicator of the market opening, trading at 8869, up 82.50 points at 7:20am.

The 30-share BSE Sensex closed above 29000 for the first time on Thursday, up 117.16 points at 29006.02 while the 50-share NSE Nifty rose 31.90 points to 8761.40. The broader markets ended on a flat note amid consolidation.

The global cues are positive with European Central Bank’s Mario Draghi announcing a bond-buying programme worth over one trillion euros to stave off the deflation threat. The purchases will start on March this year and will last till September 2016.

Global markets cheered the ECB stimulus program with Asian markets trading higher. US stocks climbed on Thursday, extending gains into a fourth session, after the ECB expanded stimulus and as companies posted upbeat quarterly earnings. The CBOE volatility index fell 13 percent to 16.40. European equities too closed with gains of over 1 percent. The euro, however, slipped to an 11-year low.

In earnings action Cairn India will react to results today. The company’s earnings declined sequentially on weaker realizations. The consolidated net profit fell 41 percent to Rs 1,350 crore while revenues dropped 12 percent. Crude realizations dropped to USD 68.7 per barrel.

In other asset classes, nymex crude futures jumped around USD 1 after Saudi Arabia announced news that King Abdullah had died. Brent was trading around USD 49.

And, from the precious metals space, gold prices rise above USD 1300 dollars an ounce post the ECB decision as gold is usually seen as a hedge against inflationary concerns.