Indian Shares Seen Opening On Cautious Note

Indian shares are seen opening on a cautious note Tuesday, tracking a muted trend elsewhere in Asia amid concerns over the spread of coronavirus new strain and uncertainty about Senate runoffs in Georgia, which could have a major impact on what U.S. President-elect Joe Biden is able to accomplish.

Closer home, the central government is taking requisite steps to turn India into a manufacturing and export powerhouse, Minister of State for Finance Anurag Thakur said on Monday.

Benchmark indexes Sensex and the Nifty rose 0.6 percent and 0.8 percent, respectively on Monday to reach record highs, while the rupee settled 9 paise higher at 73.02 against the U.S. dollar.

Asian markets remain mostly lower this morning amid increased risk aversion while the dollar gained ground against rivals.

Oil prices edged up slightly in cautious trade ahead of a meeting of major oil producers later in the day to decide on output levels for February after talks broke down the previous day.

U.S. stocks fell sharply overnight amid fears over the spread of coronavirus new strain and uncertainty ahead of two key Senate runoffs in Georgia on Tuesday.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 1.3 percent, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite and the S&P 500 ended down around 1.5 percent.

European markets gained ground on Monday as the relief over the last-minute Brexit trade deal as well as encouraging economic data from the euro area, the U.K., and China outweighed warnings of tighter lockdown measures in the region including Germany, the U.K. and Scotland.

The pan European Stoxx 600 rose 0.7 percent. The German DAX edged up marginally, France's CAC 40 index gained 0.7 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 added 1.7 percent.

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