Shares may rise at opening bell

Trading of Nifty 50 index futures on the Singapore stock exchange indicates that the Nifty could rise 10 points at the opening bell.

The government on Tuesday appointed Shaktikanta Das, member of the fifteenth finance commission, as the governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), a day after Urjit Patel resigned.

On the political front, the Congress party is set to form governments in Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan and is locked in a close fight with BJP in Madhya Pradesh. However, in Mizoram, Congress gave way to the MNF while in Telangana, the TRS retained power.

As per Madhya Pradesh Assembly Election 2018 results status on Wednesday morning, Congress has won 113 seats and is leading in 1. On the other hand, the BJP has won 109. The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), Samajwadi Party (SP) and independents have till now managed to claim 2, 1 and 4 seats, respectively. The final results of one seat is yet to be declared. The majority mark in the state is 116.

Overseas, most Asian stocks were trading higher as US President Donald trump sounded upbeat about a trade deal with China.

In a media interview, Trump said talks were taking place with Beijing by phone and he would not raise tariffs on Chinese imports until he was sure about a deal. He also said he would intervene in the Justice Department's case against a top executive at China's Huawei Technologies if it would serve national security interests or help close a trade deal. Canadian court on Tuesday granted bail to the executive in a move that could help placate Chinese officials angered by the arrest.

US stocks closed mostly lower Tuesday in a session that saw the key indexes weave in and out of positive territory as investors weighed mounting political tension in the nation's capital against renewed optimism over US-China trade talks.

The US and China launched formal trade talks with a phone call. In the call, China informed US officials that it had agreed to reduce tariffs on US autos to 15%, down from 40%.

On the data front, the National Federation of Independent Businesses issued its small business optimism index for November, showing it fell to 104.8 from 107.1 in October. Further, the wholesale cost of goods and services rose by 0.1% in November. Year-over-year rises in producer prices, however, fell to 2.5% from 2.9%, according to the Labor Department.

Closer home, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) sold shares worth a net Rs 2421.06 crore on 11 December 2018, as per provisional data released by the stock exchanges. Domestic institutional investors (DIIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 2255.68 crore on 11 December 2018, as per provisional data.

Domestic stocks logged modest gains led by index pivotals. Intraday volatility was high. The barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, rose 190.29 points or 0.54% to settle at 35,150.01. The Nifty 50 index rose 60.70 points or 0.58% to settle at 10,549.15.

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