Sensex, Nifty May Struggle For Direction After Recent Rally

(RTTNews) - Indian shares are likely to see a muted start on Thursday amid mixed global cues and the impending weekly futures & options expiry.

IT major Wipro reported a 21 percent year-on-year fall in its consolidated net profit for the June quarter, while IndusInd Bank's Q1 profit jumped 64 percent, beating analysts' forecasts.

Benchmark indexes Sensex and the Nifty jumped over 1 percent each on Wednesday to extend gains for a fourth straight session, with IT and energy companies leading the surge.

The rupee fell by 13 paise to close below the 80 mark for the first time against the greenback.

Asian markets traded mixed this morning ahead of the Bank of Japan and European Central Bank policy meetings.

There is much uncertainty over the supply of Russian gas to Europe, with a planned 10-day outage set to end at 0400 GMT.

Germany would be especially hart-hit if supplies via Nord Stream 1 didn't resume before cold weather returns.

Gold held near one-year low amid dollar strength, while oil extended losses on concerns about the outlook for gasoline demand in the United States during the summer driving season.

U.S. stocks rose overnight as earnings of more companies came on expected lines, helping offset signs of a slowdown in the housing market.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite surged 1.6 percent after a positive forecast from Netflix while the S&P gained 0.6 percent and the Dow edged up 0.2 percent. European stocks snapped a three-day winning streak on Wednesday as Italy faced its worst political crisis and the EU announced precautionary measures in the face of reduced Russian gas supplies.

The pan European Stoxx 600 dipped 0.2 percent. The German DAX slipped 0.2 percent, France's CAC 40 index dropped 0.3 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 eased 0.4 percent.