Opening Bell: Will Nifty disregard positive Q2 GDP today?

US markets closed mixed on Friday but still eked out a third straight month of gains while European market were bolstered by improving economic data and Asian markets are subdued in trade this morning ahead of the China PMI data.

Back home, India’s Q2 gross domestic product (GDP) failed to provide any fireworks as the economy grew at 4.8 percent- slightly better than the 4.4 percent growth in the first quarter. Economists, however, worry that the growth is still stuck below 5 percent for the fourth quarter in a row.

Manish Wadhawan, managing director and head of department-interest rates, HSBC said for both bond and rate markets, other factors like the currency or liquidity, are far more important parameters than the Q2 GDP.

Another important parameter of economic growth- auto sales- for the month of November too painted a grim picture. While Mahindra & Mahindra recorded total sales of a little over 39,000 units versus over 50,000 units last month and Tata Motors records total sales at 40,800 units versus over 51,600 units month on month.

Meanwhile, what comes as a setback for telecom major Vodafone, the Bombay High Court has not ruled on the matter of jurisdiction, but remanded the transfer pricing case back to the dispute resolution panel (DRP). The court also made strong observations on the tax department’s attitude towards assesses saying the department has not heard Vodafone's preliminary objections.

And from the banking space, while the idea of a Tata Bank is in the backburner, business groups Birla and Bajaj have firmed up their plans to set up a bank. While the Birla group has hired senior banking staff and is scouting for a partner, Bajaj group is all set to initiate organisational  rejig to avoid conflict of interest.

Other asset classes

In the currency space the euro trades at 1.36 per dollar while the dollar index trades at 80.5 levels.

In commodities, crude prices extend gains this morning after data from China over the weekend showed industrial activity in the world's number two crude buyer remained high despite worries the economy facing a modest slowdown.

From precious metals space gold prices drop this morning with investors jittery ahead of key US Data this week that could provide clues on when the Federal Reserve will begin scaling back its monetary stimulus.