Indian shares may crawl higher on Friday, extending recent gains, as foreign institutional investors (FIIs) continue to pump in liquidity into the markets. FIIs bought shares worth over Rs. 1,070 crore yesterday on a net basis, provisional data from stock exchanges showed. Benchmark indexes Sensex and the Nifty closed up 0.2 percent and 0.4 percent, respectively on Thursday after hitting 30-month highs early in the session.
In corporate news, the government has notified the long-pending drug price control order, paving the way for the implementation of National Pharmaceutical Pricing Policy.
IT services firm Mahindra Satyam reported a 15 percent decline in fourth-quarter net profit, weighed by a higher tax outgo and higher personnel expenses.
Reliance Capital reported over 19 percent decline in quarterly net profit due to lower income from operations.
Oriental Bank of Commerce cut fixed deposit rates by up to 1 percent on select maturities with effect from Thursday.
ICICI Bank said it has repatriated around Rs 400 crore capital from its wholly-owned banking subsidiary in Canada.
Asian Markets
Asian stocks are trading mostly higher despite concerns about the state of the U.S. economy. The markets in Hong Kong and South Korea are closed for holidays. On the economic front, core machinery orders in Japan climbed a seasonally adjusted 14.2 percent in March from the previous month, the Cabinet Office said, beating forecasts for an increase of 3.5 percent following the downwardly revised 4.2 percent increase in February. On a yearly basis, core machine orders added 2.4 percent.
U.S. And European Markets
U.S. stocks fell overnight, with a disappointing batch of U.S. economic data on initial jobless claims, housing starts and regional manufacturing activity along with comments from a Federal Reserve official weighing on the markets. The Dow dropped 0.3 percent, the tech-heavy Nasdaq slid 0.2 percent and the S&P 500 shed half a percent.
San Francisco Federal Reserve President John Williams indicated that the Fed may slow the pace of its asset purchases as early as this summer if various labor market indicators continue to register appreciable improvement.
The European markets ended Thursday's session with mixed results, as weak U.S. data added to worries over eurozone growth. France's CAC 40 and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 edged down about 0.1 percent each and the SMI of Switzerland dropped 0.7 percent, while the German DAX ended marginally higher.
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Business News
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.