Sensex, Nifty Poised For Higher Opening In Cautious Trade

(RTTNews) - Indian shares are seen opening higher on Friday after Adani Group entities reportedly made scheduled coupon payments on outstanding U.S. dollar-denominated bonds and the Group clarified that it hasn't pledged any share of Ambuja Cements and its subsidiary ACC to finance the acquisition of the two assets.

Additionally, media reports suggest that the Group's founder-chairman is in talks with lenders to release some stock that was pledged as collateral.

Benchmark indexes Sensex and Nifty ended a highly volatile session narrowly mixed on Thursday despite positive global cues. The rupee fell by 40 paise to close at 82.20 against the dollar, weighed down by foreign fund outflows.

The rupee is expected to be far less under pressure in 2023 than it was in 2022 as a result of an expected global economic slowdown, a potentially weaker dollar and lower commodity prices, India's chief economic adviser V Anantha Nageswaran told Reuters in an interview.

Separately, Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said that India's economy can withstand the stock rout caused by allegations against Adani Group.

Asian markets traded mixed, with Chinese and Hong Kong stocks declining after tech giants Apple, Amazon and Alphabet posted disappointing financial results. The dollar regained its strength while gold and oil prices were little changed in Asian trading. U.S. markets ended broadly higher overnight as lower Treasury yields on the back of dovish comments from Fed Chair Powell and upbeat earnings from Facebook parent Meta Platforms boosted tech stocks.

In economic releases, a surprise decline in weekly jobless claims, increased productivity in the fourth quarter and higher unit labor costs raised cautious optimism that the economy could skirt a recession.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite soared 3.3 percent to reach a near five-month closing high and the S&P 500 jumped 1.5 percent while the Dow edged down 0.1 percent.

European stocks advanced on Thursday amid hopes that the global rate hiking cycle would end soon.

The pan European STOXX 600 jumped 1.4 percent as the ECB's comments didn't provide any new hawkish surprises and the Bank of England softened its stance on future tightening.

The German DAX rallied 2.2 percent, France's CAC 40 index gained 1.3 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 added 0.8 percent.