Nifty futures, Asian markets up; big week ahead for Europe

Hong Kong: A big week coming up for Europe, with pivotal elections in two countries (France and Greece) that could shape the future of the eurozone - and determine the mood of the markets.

But right at the start, Asian markets are seeing a bit of positive action, posting gains while they still can. Last week’s weak GDP data from the US also keeps open the door for a round of quantitative easing, and easy money that markets so love.

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Tokyo and Shanghai markets are closed for local holidays, but Hong Kong is the outperformer of the morning, up some 1.2 percent as at 7.30 am IST. Sydney too is edging up on expectations of a rate cut tomorrow.

Nifty futures too are up by about four-tenths of 1 percent, which, if the mood holds, should point to a mildly positive start to the trading dayin Mumbai.

Back home, analysts expect markets to be range-bound, given lingering worries about rupee volatility and foreign institutional investors’ concerns over taxation proposals. But there are those who argue that despite their bluster, FIIs are unlikely to exit the Indian market over the taxation proposals.

Mint newspaper reports that the government is planning to tweak the stock market investment scheme it announced in the budget to channel investments into mutual funds rather than in equities.

For today, we’re probably looking at a mildly positive start to trading.