Nifty likely to open in green; Asian stocks firm

The Nifty is likely to open in the green with indicator SGX Nifty trading at 8174.50, up 9.50 percent. On Tuesday, the market ended with handsome gains. The Sensex was up 147.33 points or 0.5 percent at 26932.88 and the Nifty was up 33.60 points or 0.4 percent at 8152.90. About 1585 advanced, while 1148 shares declined, and 114 shares remained unchanged. Tata Motors, ITC, Coal India, GAIL and Cipla were top gainers while BHEL, Infosys, NTPC, Maruti and Axis Bank were the major laggards.

Meanwhile, Asian stocks held firm on Wednesday as a sharp rebound in oil prices supported battered resource shares and emerging economy currencies, while Japanese markets were tentative ahead of a crucial Bank of Japan policy meeting.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan gained 0.2 percent, led by a 0.4 percent rise in South Korea. Japan's Nikkei was almost flat ahead of the Bank of Japan policy announcement later in the day. Although a string of weak Japanese economic data has raised speculation of fresh stimulus from the BOJ, most market players believe governor Haruhiko Kuroda would prefer to sit tight for now.

Stocks in the United States closed mixed overnight, stabilizing after a sharp two-day rally, as investors awaited the official beginning of the third-quarter earnings season. However, the country's trade deficit for the month of August came in at USD 48.3 billion, the widest in five months.

European stocks, meanwhile, ended higher with miners and auto stocks leading the way as oil prices climbed back towards USD 50 dollars per barrel mark. Germany's Dax and France's Cac both finished between 0.9 percent and 1 percent higher. The current controversy's child Volkswagen shares too ended 3.8 percent higher after the new CEO Matthias Mueller said it would need to make 'massive' cost savings to overcome the consequences of the emissions scandal.

In the currency space, yen nursed losses against most of its peers and is likely to stay on the defensive in case the Bank of Japan surprises by injecting fresh stimulus after its policy review later in the day. Dollar too traded soft.

Crude prices, meanwhile, rallied after Russia said it was willing to meet with other big oil producers, including OPEC to discuss the situation in global oil markets. Also the US energy information administration forecast that US crude output would slow to 8.9 million barrels per day next year.

Gold too rose to its highest in nearly two weeks as the dollar fell in the wake of disappointing US economic data.