Sensex, Nifty to open on a positive note

Global markets seem to be in good cheer for now. Asian markets are well in the green. US stock indices rallied with gains across the board, but energy shares in particular stood out after oil prices advanced.

After a rollercoaster ride on Thursday the market will hope to breathe easy for the day. The world and its problems may remain complicated but looks like for the day brakes may be on any sell-off. The Union Budget will be presented on February 29 and Minister of State for Finance Jayant Sinha said the government is working hard on Budget and that will establish a roadmap for two or three years. He said the government has laid out economic principles very well and is very confident of sustaining high growth over a long period of time.

The outlook is a positive start. Attention today will be on companies like HUL which will announce numbers. Global markets seem to be in good cheer for now. Asian markets are well in the green. US stock indices rallied with gains across the board, but energy shares in particular stood out after oil prices advanced. Dovish comments from a Fed official on the central bank's inflation target also helped soothe frayed nerves on Wall Street following Wednesday's crash. Among Indian ADRs, Infosys soared 8% on Q3 earnings while Tata Motors was down 2%.

The Dow gained 1.4% and the S&P 500 climbed 1.7%. The energy sector jumped 4.5%, while the healthcare and technology sectors were up 2.7% and 2%, respectively. Meanwhile, Nasdaq rose 2%. Nymex crude-oil futures rose by 2.4% to end at US$31.20 a barrel. St. Louis Fed President James Bullard’s said that reaching the inflation target will take longer - meaning the Fed won't be in a hurry to raise rates.

WPI-based inflation for December 2015 has contracted for the 14th month coming in at a negative 0.73%.

Infosys delivered a stronger than expected growth of 2% qoq in constant currency terms adjusting for one time revenue in the preceding quarter. Volume growth was strong at 3% qoq despite furloughs and challenges in some top clients. Annual constant currency growth stood at 12.5% surpassing TCS 10% in Q3 FY16 – this has happened after many years. Buoyed by a good performance in Q3, the company has raised full year dollar growth guidance to ~13% yoy in constant currency terms. Infosys is likely to continue to outperform the sector on the back of impressive growth recovery.”