Indian shares are seen opening lower on Friday, tracking weak global cues as stimulus hopes faded. Adding to woes, India will likely experience its first drought in three years this year, the India Meteorological Department said yesterday, as rainfall between June 1 and August 1 turned out to be about 19 percent below average, close to the 23 percent shortfall in the 2009 season.
In corporate news, Aluva-based Federal Bank reported a 30 percent rise in first-quarter net profit on the back of lower provision for non-performing assets.
State-run lender SBI has cut interest rates on auto and home loans by about 50 basis points, passing of the benefit of SLR cut announced by the RBI in its quarterly review on Tuesday.
Realty and infrastructure stocks could be in focus after the government eased the norms for transfer of government land in an effort to remove bottlenecks and speed up infra projects.
IT services provider Mahindra Satyam reported a 56 percent jump in first-quarter consolidated profit, helped by a surge in sales and improved operating profit margins.
Unitech has filed a petition with the Company Law Board, asking it to stay the auction or transfer of assets of Unitech Wireless.
Indian shares snapped a four-day winning streak on Thursday, with banks and oil/gas stocks pacing the declines, after the Federal Reserve held off on delivering another round of bond-buying. The BSE Sensex fell by 33 points or 0.19 percent to 17,224, while the broader Nifty index ended down 13 points or 0.24 percent at 5,228.
According to provisional data released by BSE, foreign institutional investors bought shares worth Rs.140.13 crore on a net basis yesterday, while domestic financial institutions sold shares to the extent of Rs.66.48 crore.
Asian Markets
Asian markets are trading mostly lower, with Hong Kong's Hang Seng index pacing the declines with a 1 percent loss after the ECB took no new action to boost investor sentiment.
U.S. And European Markets
U.S. stocks drifted lower overnight, extending the downward move seen over the course of the three previous sessions, following the ECB disappointment. The ECB decided to leave interest rates unchanged and hinted that it "may undertake outright open market operations," but traders seemed disappointed that there was not more conviction behind Central Bank President Mario Draghi's remarks.
Traders who expected immediate action were disappointed. As a result of the focus on Europe, traders largely shrugged off a report from the Labor Department showing a smaller than expected increase in weekly jobless claims. The Dow and the S&P 500 dropped about 0.7 percent each, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq slid 0.4 percent.
Major European markets too ended weak on Thursday, with the German DAX and France's CAC 40 losing between 2.2 percent and 2.7 percent due to the disappointment following the Fed and ECB meetings.
Crude
U.S. crude futures tumbled, with crude for September delivery losing $1.78 or 2 percent to close at $87.13 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, after the ECB didn't announce any immediate steps to boost economic growth.
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