Spain fears keep Nifty futures, Asian indices listless

Hong Kong: Pretty dull morning of trading across Asia today, with markets pretty much range-bound on thin volumes. In the absence of cues overnight from Wall Street, which was closed for the Memorial Day Holiday, indices across the region are listless.

As at 7.30 am IST, Nifty futures are trading up a tick, and at one point were edging towards the 5000 mark, but the sentiment doesn’t look overly positive, and the index is already coming of the morning high.

Elsewhere across the region too, indices are see-sawing between gains and losses. Whereas yesterday’s gains were made on the back of reports that a Greek political party that favours staying within the eurozone was ahead in opinion polls, the sentiment this morning is weighed down by reports that Spain is the next pressure point, with its banking system needing more bailouts.

Concerns over China’s slowdown are also spooking investors, and although the government has begun a fiscal stimulus program, it isn’t seen as big enough to move the needle on growth, which in the reckoning of some analysts could dip below 7 percent this year.

[caption id=“attachment_324231” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“Pretty dull morning of trading across Asia today, with markets pretty much range-bound on thin volumes.AP”] [/caption]

Wall Street was closed overnight, but US futures are up a notch. But that may not count for much in a situation where sentiment turns on a dime.

Back home, analysts reason that yesterday’s bounce may be difficult to sustain in the absence of policy initiatives - but there’s no sign of those coming through.

The rupee will likely open slightly weaker today, which too could influence sentiments in a market that has hitched itself excessively to the currency’s vicissitudes.

Overall, we’ll likely see a tame start to trade today.