Domestic stock markets are likely to start Thursday's session on a flat note, ahead of the outcome of the Reserve Bank of India's sixth bi-monthly policy statement of the current financial year.
The Singapore Exchange (SGX) Nifty futures - an early indicator of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) Nifty index in India - edged 36.5 points lower to 12,063.50 ahead of the opening of Indian markets before turning flat.
At 8:30 am, the SGX Nifty futures were down 9.00 points - or 0.07 per cent - at 12,091.00.The six-member Monetary Policy Committee headed by RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das is widely expected to maintain the status quo on key lending rates in its sixth bi-monthly statement of 2019-20, amid economic slowdown and consumer inflation staying well above the central bank's comfort zone.Equities in other Asian markets continued to rise with MSCI's broadest index of Asia Pacific stocks last seen trading1.17 per cent higher and Japan's Nikkei 225 index up 2.07 per cent.Investors cheered expectations of more central bank stimulus and reports that scientists were developing a vaccine for the deadly coronavirusThe death toll from a new coronavirus in mainland China jumped by 73 to 563 on Thursday, its third consecutive record daily rise, as experts intensified efforts to find a vaccine for a disease that has shut down Chinese cities and forced thousands more into quarantine around the world.On Wednesday, the domestic markets continued their rally for the third straight day, with the S-P BSE Sensex index ending353.28 points - or 0.87 per cent - higher at41,142.66 and the broader NSE Nifty benchmark settling at12,089.15, up 109.50 points - or 0.91 per cent - from its previous close.