Indian shares are seen opening higher on Thursday, mirroring firm Asian cues as the Federal Reserve decided to keep its current ultra-loose monetary policy in place through late 2014 and a report showed South Korea's economic growth accelerated at the fastest pace in a year on a quarterly basis in the January-March period due to strong industrial output. Having said that, trading could remain volatile as traders rollover their positions due to the April F&O expiry due today.
Meanwhile, worried over S&P's negative outlook, Kaushik Basu, chief economic advisor to the PM, is likely to meet finance minister Pranab Mukherjee today to discuss the government's future course of action, the Bloomberg reported.
On the earnings front, copper producer Sterlite Industries could be in focus after reporting a 34 percent drop in the fourth-quarter consolidated net profit on account of weak global metal prices, forex losses and an exceptional loss of Rs. 423 crore incurred owing to an unfavorable court ruling in the U.S.
Benchmark indexes Sensex and the Nifty fell about 0.4 percent each on Wednesday after Standard and Poor's downgraded India's long-term rating outlook to "negative" from "stable" citing the worsening fiscal situation and political constraints for pursuing economic reforms.
On Wall Street, stocks ended notable higher overnight, as better than expected quarterly results from tech giant Apple Inc., the world's largest publicly-traded company by market capitalization, outweighed a report from the Commerce Department showing a sharp drop in durable goods orders in March. The Dow rose 0.7 percent, the tech-heavy Nasdaq climbed 2.3 percent and the S&P 500 rallied 1.4 percent.
The Federal Reserve left interest rates at near-zero levels and reiterated that economic conditions are likely to warrant exceptionally low levels for the federal funds rate at least through late 2014. Fed Chairman Bernanke assured that all policy tools remain at the Fed's disposal, but analysts say the Fed's optimistic outlook takes additional asset purchases off the table barring a turn for the worse for the economy.
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Market Analysis
June 05, 2026 16:18 ET A busy week for economic news flow saw a slew of reports being released that reflected the trends in the U.S. labor market. In Europe, economic growth and inflation data gained attention as the European Central Bank and Bank of England head for policy session later in the month. In Asia, the monetary policy session of the Indian central bank was in focus as the country, a major oil importer, reels under the pressures of a weaker rupee and rising inflation.