Sensex, Nifty to open on a flat note

Global markets are on the weaker side. This week is data heavy with GDP numbers coming in today after market hours and RBI monetary policy on Tuesday. The Nikkei and Shanghai have shed 0.3% each. Hong Kong's Hang Seng has lost 0.2% while South Korea's Kospi is down over 1.5%.

Hopes are high on the GST Bill front after Prime Minister Narendra Modi warmed up to a meeting with Sonia Gandhi and Manmohan Singh to discuss the same on Friday. The Indian market managed to carve out gains for the week even as sentiment in global markets were subdued with China crashing by nearly 5% on reports that probe into brokers had widened. The December series has started off with a positive note after a disappointing November series where the Nifty lost close to 3% on an expiry to expiry basis. Relative outperformance from banks was overshadowed by price destruction in Pharma, IT and capital goods space after earnings and events disappointments.

The outlook is a flat start. Focus will be on interest-rate sensitives for the next day or two. Global markets are on the weaker side. This week is data heavy with GDP numbers coming in today after market hours and RBI monetary policy on Tuesday. Among the other important macro-economic data includes the October fiscal deficit. Besides IPO announcements of two companies, Alkem Laboratories and Dr Lal Pathlabs are expected this week.

After a hefty 50 basis points cut during September, markets do not expect much to happen on the rate front during the December RBI monetary policy review. The central bank has undertaken four cuts this calendar year, with interest rates softening by cumulative 125 basis points. It is likely that the central bank will pause to gauge the recent spike in food prices and assess whether lower inflationary levels are sustainable.

The Nikkei and Shanghai have shed 0.3% each. Hong Kong's Hang Seng has lost 0.2% while South Korea's Kospi is down over 1.5%. Taiwan's TWSE is also trading over a percent lower. The euro is near a seven-month low ahead of the European Central Bank's monetary policy later this week. The International Monetary Fund is expected to add Chinese yuan to its benchmark currency basket today.

Nestle India could be in focus as the board of directors on December 04, 2015 may consider declaration of second interim dividend for the year 2015, if any.

Investors are also focusing on the ECB's policy decision on Thursday, with growing expectations that the ECB could cut interest rates by 20 basis points.

Emami Paper Mills Ltd. plans to invest an additional INR 1,000 crore in the next three years to double the capacity at its Balasore, Odisha plant. The company has set up 1.32 lakh tonne high-end paper boards manufacturing facility at INR 1,000 crore at Balasore. The company produces 1.5 lakh tonnes of newsprint and 15,000 tonnes of writing & printing paper annually.

Reliance Industries Ltd. (RIL) is facing a 40% cut in the marketing margin it charges on selling its KG-D6 gas to fertilizer and LPG plants after the Government notified a ceiling of INR 200 per thousand standard cubic meters (scm), reports a business daily. RIL was charging US$0.135 per million British thermal unit (mmBtu) as marketing margin on sale of KG-D6 gas. This is over and above the gas price of US$4.24 per mmBtu.

Maruti Suzuki will invest INR 15,000 crore over the next five years in procuring land for doubling its dealership network and expanding stockyard, warehouse & transportation infrastructure, Chairman R C Bhargava has been quoted as saying by a business daily. "The total money needed for creating additional sales-and-service infrastructure has been estimated to be INR 30,000 crore. Of that, half the money will be invested by us, and the rest by dealers," says Bhargava.

Gulf airlines have shown interest in buying a stake in budget airline SpiceJet, says its Chairman Ajay Singh. "Some of the Gulf airlines have expressed an interest in SpiceJet as we have come back into the market, but this is not the right time to be diluting the equity," Singh said in Dubai on Sunday. "There is some dialogue which is ongoing and we continue to explore other types of relationships we could have," he said.

PVR expects to add at least 23 screens in the current financial year to take the total to 500."Our target is to reach 1,000 screens quickly. The shorter target is to get to 500 screens in this financial year and then look at going to 1,000 screens," PVR Cinemas COO Gautam Dutta said on Sunday. PVR currently operates 477 screens across 44 cities in the country.

The Indian Government is expected to spend US$95 billion (over INR 6.34 lakh crore) on ramping up its rail infrastructure, a step that will help in increasing the country’s manufacturing competitiveness, says a report by US investment bank Morgan Stanley.

French President Francois Hollande and India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi will on Monday launch an international solar alliance aimed at bringing clean and affordable solar energy to the masses. The alliance would also include around 50 African countries.