Indian shares are seen opening a tad lower on Friday, as a slew of weak U.S. data rekindled global growth worries. Oil prices fell from a nine-week high, copper is edging lower, Asian markets are subdued and the euro is retreating against the dollar after China said it will continue to maintain curbs on its property market.
In news out of Europe, the German lower house on Thursday approved the €100 billion bailout for the Spanish banking sector, despite criticism that Berlin is paying into a "bottomless pit".
Closer home, UPA nominee Pranab Mukherjee is all set to be elected as the 14th President of India, winning the race for Raisina Hill by more than two-thirds majority.
Investors will closely monitor rupee movement for directional cues after the Indian currency gained 36 paise to close at 55.12 against the dollar yesterday, helped by sustained capital inflows and amid selling of the U.S. currency by exporters.
India's benchmark indexes Sensex and the Nifty rose about half a percent each on Thursday, with IT stocks pacing the gainers after IBM and eBay posted better than expected quarterly earnings.
Provisional data released by BSE shows that foreign institutional investors continued to remain net buyers in Indian equities and bought shares worth Rs.125.78 crore yesterday, while domestic financial institutions sold shares to the extent of Rs.228.84 crore.
On the earnings front, Asian Paints, Crompton Greaves, Hindusthan Zinc, Indiabulls Finance, JSW Energy, Karnataka Bank, Reliance Industries and UltraTech are among the companies that will unveil their quarterly earnings today.
On Wall Street, stocks ended higher overnight, with technology stocks adding to the substantial gains posted in the previous session, although disappointing economic data on weekly jobless claims, existing home sales, regional manufacturing and an indicator of leading economic indicators limited the upside for the markets.
Additionally, shares of Morgan Stanley came under pressure after the financial giant reported weaker than expected second quarter earnings amid a notable drop in revenues. The tech-heavy Nasdaq outperformed its counterparts, rising 0.8 percent, while the Dow and the S&P 500 rose about 0.3 percent each.
by RTT Staff Writer
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