Markets likely to open in positive territory on cues from Asian peers

Indian shares may open modestly higher on Friday amid positive cues from Asian markets. The SGX Nifty, which was trading at 9,976, indicates that the Nifty could open in positive territory at the opening bell.
 
Nifty50 index has a strong hurdle in the range of 9,980-10,000, while on the downside, the immediate support is placed at the level of 9,880 and the next support is placed around the level of 9,850, which is a major support for the Nifty50.
 
Back home, equity benchmarks ended almost flat on Thursday after a range-bound session. The BSE Sensex closed near neutral line, while Nifty advanced 14 points to finish at 9,930. The broader market outperformed the benchmark indices as the Mid-cap and the Small-cap index rose 0.76% and 0.46% respectively.

The US stocks spent the day bouncing back and forth across the neutral line and eventually ended the Thursday’s session roughly flat. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite index ended at 6,398, up by 5 points, whereas the Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 23 points to close at 21,785 and the S&P ended flat with a negative bias.
 
A majority of the Asian stock indices were trading in the positive territory in early trade on Friday. Hong Kong's Hang Seng has risen 0.46% and China’s Shanghai Composite has gained 0.23%, while Japan’s Nikkei 225 has lost 0.31%