Morning cues: Nifty likely to open on a jittery note

The Indian market on Thursday is likely to open on a jittery note mirroring the growth concerns in the US and the crash in Europe due to political uncertainty in Greece. However, the weakness is expected to be cushioned by a hint of BJP winning the assembly elections, as predicted by the opinion polls. The SGX Nifty was trading in red at 7878, down 74 points around 8:00 hrs. The 30-share BSE Sensex fell 34.74 points to close at 26349.33 and the 50-share NSE Nifty declined 20.25 points to 7864. Growth concerns plague the markets. US stocks closed down but recovered significantly from historic intraday losses amid concerns about Europe, Ebola and the economy. Stocks lost nearly 3 percent during the day but recovered in the close. The CBOE volatility index cut half its gains after rising as much as 35 percent to trade above 30, its highest level since November 2011. Retail sales fell 0.3 percent in September, slightly more than the expected 0.2 percent decline. The producer price index for September fell 0.1 percent as opposed to expectations of a 0.1 percent gain. In Europe, stocks closed more than 2 percent lower as investors shunned risky assets on fears of crumbling global growth, weak economic data, and concerns about the political situation in Greece. Asia too is trading negative on weak US lead. In the currency space, dollar hits a three-week low against the euro and a more than one-month low against the yen post weak US economic data that heightened concerns that the federal reserve would delay its first rate hike. In commodities, Brent crude continues its slump, slips below USD 84 per barrel. From precious metals space - gold prices rise to USD 1240 an ounce following weak dollar against a basket of currencies Back home, telecom regulator, TRAI releases recommendations on spectrum valuation and reserve price for licences expiring in 2015-16. It also recommends auction of only spectrum held by service providers in 900 mega hertz band. In key earnings today, Q2 is expected to be a strong quarter for TCS. Dollar revenue may see a 7.3 percent growth to USD 3965 million, marginal improvement in margins seen. From autos, Hero Moto too may report good earnings with profits rising 43 percent. Bajaj Auto reported a mixed set of numbers for the second quarter. Revenues were at Rs 5,963 crore beating estimates, but net profit missed the street's view as the auto major reported an exceptional loss of Rs 340 crore due to a one-time penalty imposed by the government of Uttarakhand. Reliance infra and GVK Power suffered setback after Supreme Court said the dispute between the two companies over the hydropower projects in Uttarakhand has dragged on for far too long. The apex court asked the state government to consider scrapping the tender process