Markets closed on account of Republic Day

Indian equity, forex, money and commodity markets will remain closed today on account of Republic Day.

In the week to January 23, 2015, the 30-share Sensex topped the 29,000 mark to end 4.1% higher at a record closing high of 29,279. In the week to June 6, 2014, the Sensex had surged 4.8% to 25,396. The 50-share Nifty breached 8,800 to rise 3.8% and also end at a record closing high of 8,836.

The rally in the markets, which witnessed record highs for four straight sessions during the week under review, was largely led by aggressive foreign fund buying. Foreign institutional investors were net buyers in Indian equities to the tune of Rs 6,388 crore (over $1 billion) during the week, as per provisional stock exchange data.

IMF, in its World Economic Outlook Update, slightly cut projections for India's economic growth to 6.3% for 2015-16 against 6.4% made in October last year, while retaining the  forecast for the current financial year at 5.6%. On a different growth parameter, it projected India's economy to grow faster than China's by 2016-17 and pegged the country's growth rate at 6.5% for 2016-17.

European Central Bank (ECB) President Mario Draghi surprised the market by not only announcing a higher package but also extended the tenure. He announced a package to buy €60 billion ($69 billion) worth of private and public Euro-area bonds a month, popularly known as quantitative easing (QE), till September 2016 taking the  total amount above one trillion euros.

On the global front, Asian markets are trading lower today as Japanese and Hong Kong shares fell. The Nikkei has lost 0.62% while the Hang Seng is down 0.07%. On the other hand, the Shanghai Composite is not trading today.

The euro skidded to an 11-year low and stock prices fell on Monday as Greece's Syriza party promised to roll back austerity measures after sweeping to victory in a snap election, putting Athens on a collision course with international lenders.

Both US stock futures ESc1 and Japan's Nikkei fell 0.6% while MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan shed 0.1% on heightened concerns the Greek election results could lead to renewed instability in Europe.