Nifty likely to open in red; all eyes on Delhi

The Indian equity market is expected to open in the red today with the SGX Nifty trading at 8509.00  down 46 points  at 7:30 am on Tuesday.  On back of concerns that a likely Aam Aadmi Party victory in Delhi could force the BJP government to go slow on reforms, the 30-share Sensex on Monday tumbled 490.52 points or 1.71 percent to close at 28227.39 after hitting a low of 28183.32 during the day. The 50-share Nifty too closed at 8526.35, down 134.70 points or 1.56 percent, continuing downtrend for the seventh consecutive session.Stocks in the US closed down on Monday despite oil settling higher, as concerns about Greece continued to weigh. The CBoE VIX closed around 18 levels.In Europe too equities closed lower, as negotiations over Greece’s bailout program continued and the crisis in Ukraine re-escalatedGreek stocks tumbled 5 percent and bond yields spiked after Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said his election pledge to restructure Greece’s debt was "irrevocable" in his inaugural speechFrom the currency space, the dollar slipped somewhat after a payrolls-inspired rally ran out of steam. The dollar index was a tad softer but not far from an 11-year peak scaled last month.In commodities, crude prices dipped slightly with Brent crude trading below USD 58 dollars per barrel.Meanwhile the OPEC hiked its demand forecast for 2015, predicting that low prices would help boost demand later in the year. However, the organization still said that oil demand growth was "yet to show any signs of accelerating."From precious metals space, gold prices remained largely unchanged at around USD 1240 an ounceBack home, in just a matter of hours, the national capital will have a new chief minister after a year of president's rule. It's a toss up between Arvind Kejriwal and Kiran Bedi - with the odds heavily in favour of Kejriwal. 

Most exit polls have predicted a landslide victory for the AAP. Kejriwal has tweeted already - congratulating party members and asked them to relax till results are announced. AAP had won 28 seats in the last elections - with the BJP getting 31 and the Congress getting 8. The congress party - according to surveys is looking at a wipe out. Sources close to Ajay Maken say he will resign as Congress General Secretary if he loses his seat Sadar Bazar. Meanwhile BJP's CM face Kiran Bedi has said that she will take responsibility if the BJP loses the elections. On the earnings front ABB, BEML, Cadilla, Nalco are expected to come out with numbers today.