Sensex, Nifty Seen Flat To Higher At Open As Oil Prices Tumble

(RTTNews) - Indian shares are seen open marginally higher on Friday as Fed Chair Jerome Powell wrapped up his congressional testimony and crude oil prices saw a sharp pullback overnight on fuel demand concerns.

Defense stocks could be in focus today after the U.S. and Indian leaders announced defense and technology deals, including a purchase of American spy drones. Benchmark indexes Sensex and Nifty fell around half a percent each on Thursday, after having closed at record highs the previous day. The rupee ended a tad higher at 81.95 to the dollar.

Asian stocks were mostly lower this morning as rate hikes from policymakers in England, Norway and Switzerland pushed global bond yields higher.

The U.S. 10-year and two-year Treasury bond yields rose the most in a week overnight on worries about high interest rates.

The dollar drew support from a bout of risk aversion while gold was on course for its biggest weekly fall since early February. Oil extended losses after falling over 4 percent on Thursday.

U.S. stocks ended mostly higher overnight despite policy tightening fears from the U.S. to Norway and the U.K.

Tech stocks led advances as Fed Chair Jerome Powell wrapped up his congressional testimony, saying the central bank would move interest rates at a "careful pace" from here.

In economic releases, new data showed the number of jobless claims remained elevated last week.

The Dow ended flat with a negative bias, while the S&P 500 gained 0.4 percent and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite added 1 percent to snap three-day losing streaks.

European stocks closed lower on Thursday amid growth worries after the Bank of England raised rates by a bigger-than-expected half a percentage point to tackle persistent inflation.

The pan European STOXX 600 dropped half a percent. The German DAX slipped 0.2 percent, while France's CAC 40 and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 both fell around 0.8 percent.