Sensex, Nifty Likely To Follow Asian Peers Lower

(RTTNews) - Indian shares look set to open on a weak note Monday as China's $1.4 trillion debt swap stimulus fell short of expectations and the release of weak inflation data over the weekend spurred new concerns over the recovery in the world's second-largest economy.

Meanwhile, U.S. President-elect Donald Trump took a clean sweep of the seven battleground states, helping Republicans inch closer to winning the House.

The focus is now on how quickly Trump will implement his fiscal and protectionist trade policies, including proposed tariffs on China.

Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis President Neel Kashkari indicated at the weekend that tariffs would hurt long-term inflation if global trade partners were to strike back.

Q2 earnings, the release of domestic inflation and industrial output readings, Middle East tensions, oil price movements and FII flows may influence trading sentiment as the week progresses.

Asian stocks were broadly lower this morning, with Hong Kong markets leading losses. The dollar rose against major peers, extending last week's gain on concerns that Trump's fiscal policies will stoke inflation.

Gold drifted lower in Asian trade on dollar strength. Oil extended losses after falling nearly 3 percent on Friday.

U.S. stocks reached new record closing highs on Friday and scored big weekly gains on expectations for improved GDP growth, deregulation and tax cuts under the Trump administration.

In economic releases, a measure of U.S. consumer sentiment hit a seven-month high in early November while one-year inflation expectations eased but long-term expectations rose marginally, separate set of data revealed.

The Dow rose 0.6 percent and the S&P 500 gained 0.4 percent to wrap up their best week in a year while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite finished marginally higher.

European stocks ended lower on Friday as investors continued to react to political upheaval in Germany and weighed Trump's proposed protectionist policies.

The pan European STOXX 600 dropped 0.7 percent. France's CAC 40 lost 1.2 percent, while the German DAX and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 both dipped around 0.8 percent.