Sensex, Nifty Poised For Steep Sell-off

(RTTNews) - Indian shares are seen opening sharply lower on Monday as investors react to weak global cues and wait for direction from the latest quarterly earnings results.

Growth worries may weigh after Japanese brokerage Nomura forecast a sharp moderation in India's growth rate for FY24 to 5.2 percent, saying Indian policymakers are "misplaced" about their optimism on the country's growth prospects.

The earnings season gets underway this week, with TCS, Infosys, Wipro, HCL Technologies, Bajaj Auto, Shree Cement and HDFC Bank among the prominent companies that will unveil their quarterly earnings.

On the macroeconomic front, retail inflation numbers for September and industrial output data for August will be watched closely.

On the global front, U.S and Chinese inflation numbers as well as the FOMC meeting minutes will be key.

Asian markets fell sharply this morning as increased geopolitical tensions added to the uncertainty surrounding aggressive policy tightening by major central banks.

Markets wait to see how the Kremlin might respond after a powerful blast damaged Russia's road-and-rail bridge to Crimea.

Gold slipped on higher yields and a firmer dollar while oil prices slipped, after climbing on Friday to five-week highs.

U.S. stocks tumbled on Friday and yields climbed, as signs of a strong labor market showing a falling unemployment rate coupled with rising oil prices bolstered the case for further rate rises. Investors also weighed a profit warning from microchip maker AMD.

U.S. non-farm payroll employment jumped by 263,000 jobs in September while economists had expected an increase of 250,000 jobs. The Dow lost 2.1 percent, the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite shed 3.8 percent and the S&P 500 gave up 2.8 percent.

European stocks fell sharply on Friday, with interest-rate hike concerns and disappointing economic data from the euro area weighing on sentiment.

The pan European Stoxx 600 fell 1.2 percent. The German DAX dropped 1.6 percent and France's CAC 40 index declined 1.2 percent while the U.K.'s FTSE 100 ended flat with a negative bias.