Indian shares may rise on Monday amid improved global risk appetite after results from the first round of the closely-watched French presidential election showed presidential favorite Emmanuel Macron and far-right leader Marine Le Pen will contest a runoff vote for the French presidency on May 7.
The euro hit a five-month high against the dollar and the Japanese yen hit a two-week low while gold prices fell nearly 1 percent.
Oil prices recovered some lost ground after last week's sharp losses amid expectations that OPEC will extend a pledge to cut output beyond June.
Asian stocks are trading mostly higher even as investors kept a wary eye on tensions in the Korean peninsula after North Korea threatened to sink a U.S. aircraft carrier.
Chinese shares bucked the positive trend, with the Shanghai Composite falling more than 1 percent, on concerns over increased regulatory scrutiny and a crackdown on leveraged trading.
U.S. stocks ended modestly lower on Friday as oil prices fell, a report showed moderation in U.S. private sector growth in April and traders looked ahead to the French vote.
The Dow dropped 0.2 percent, the Nasdaq Composite slid 0.1 percent and S&P 500 shed 0.3 percent.
European stocks ended Friday's session on a mixed note as uncertainty surrounding the French election offset fresh evidence that the euro zone economy is performing well.
Closer home, benchmark indexes Sensex and Nifty fell modestly last week after the earnings season got off to a lackluster start.
Reliance Industries, Wipro, UltraTech, Axis Bank and Maruti Suzuki are among the prominent companies due to unveil their financial results this week.
IT stocks could be in focus today after the United States accused top IT companies TCS, Infosys and Cognizant of unfairly cornering the lion's share of H-1B visas by putting extra tickets into the lottery system.
Steelmakers may also see increased activity after reports that the Centre will announce a new steel policy soon after getting the Cabinet approval.
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