Sensex, Nifty likely to open lower amid weak global cues

Indian benchmark indices are likely to open on a negative note today as SGX Nifty quoted at 17,523.5 at 8:30 am.

Singapore Nifty (SGX Nifty) is the Indian Nifty index that is traded in Singapore Stock Exchange and considered to be the first indication of the Indian markets opening.

Indian market closed higher for the third consecutive session on Thursday, backed by gains in capital goods and oil & gas shares. Sensex ended 157 points higher at 58,807 and Nifty surged 47 points to 17,516.

ITC, L&T, Asian Paints and RIL were the top Sensex gainers, rising up to 4.60%. HDFC Bank, Titan, Nestle India were the top losers on Sensex, falling up to 1.67%. Of 30 Sensex stocks, 15 closed higher.

Gaurav Ratnaparkhi, Head of Technical Research, Sharekhan said, "The Nifty witnessed a tough battle between the bulls & the bears near the key hurdle zone of 17500-17600. With the recent bounce, the index has reached its crucial daily moving averages, which acted as a cap for the day. 17,500-17,600 had acted as a strong resistance in the recent past that had induced the bears into action. Thus it is vital to monitor the price action over here. If Nifty crosses the level of 17,600 on a closing basis then it will allow the index to march further towards 18,000. On the other hand, failure to hold the ground over here will push the index down to 17,300-17,250 in order to fill up a recent gap area on the daily chart."

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) sold shares worth Rs 1,585.55 crore on December 9, and domestic institutional investors (DIIs) bought shares worth Rs 782.84 crore, as per provisional data available on NSE.