Sensex, Nifty may open on a weak note

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Trading of Nifty 50 index futures on the Singapore stock exchange indicates that the Nifty could slide 177 points at the opening bell. On the macro front, India’s retail inflation rate, which is measured by the Consumer Price Index (CPI), rose to 4.91% during the month of November 2021, as per the data released by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) on Monday. Inflation has increased sequentially, as it was recorded at 4.48% in October 2021. Year on year, however, a dip has been registered as the rate of inflation in November 2020 was 6.93%.

Global markets

Overseas, Asian stocks are trading lower on Tuesday as the omicron variant returned to focus.

The Asian Development Bank on Tuesday trimmed its growth forecasts for developing Asia for this year and next to reflect risks and uncertainty brought on by the new Omicron coronavirus variant. The lender now sees 2021 gross domestic product (GDP) growth of 7% for developing Asia, down from 7.1%, and 2022 growth of 5.3%, down from 5.4% in September.

COVID-19 has receded in developing Asia, but rising infections worldwide and the emergence of a fast-spreading variant suggest that the pandemic will take time to play out, the ADB said in a supplement to its Asian Development Outlook report.

Wall Street ended lower on Monday, with shares of Carnival Corp and several airlines tumbling as investors worried about the Omicron coronavirus variant ahead of a Federal Reserve meeting later this week.

Investor focus will be on the Fed’s latest two-day policy meeting, which kicks off on Tuesday. After the meeting wraps up on Wednesday, the Fed is reportedly expected to announce that it will speed up the pace of tapering its asset purchasing program.

Caution on the new omicron variant prevailed again as the U.K. reportedly confirmed Monday that at least one patient infected with the new omicron variant of Covid-19 has died in the country. China also reported its first omicron case, as per reports.

The University of Oxford published results on Monday showing two doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca or Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccines are substantially less effective at warding off omicron compared to previous variants of the coronavirus.

Domestic markets

Back home, key equity benchmarks ended with deep losses on Monday. The barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, tumbled 503.25 points or 0.86% at 58,283.42. The Nifty 50 index dropped 143.25 points or 0.82% to 17,368.25.

Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) sold shares worth Rs 2,743.44 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs), were net buyers to the tune of Rs 1,351.03 crore in the Indian equity market on 13 December, provisional data showed.