Sensex, Nifty Seen Higher At Open; RBI Meeting Eyed

(RTTNews) - Indian shares are seen opening higher on Thursday amid easing trade war fears and falling oil prices on demand concerns and data showing a large build in U.S. crude and gasoline stockpiles.

That said, volatility cannot be ruled out due to continued foreign fund selling and the impending expiry of the weekly options of Nifty 50 contracts.

Benchmark indexes Sensex and Nifty ended slightly lower on Wednesday after rallying sharply the previous day on easing tariff concerns and expectations of a rate cut by the RBI later this week, which will be the first RBI policy under the new Governor Sanjay Malhotra.

The Indian rupee fell to a record low of 87.487 against the dollar before recovering slightly to close at 87.465, down 40 paisa from its previous close due to dollar demand from importers and foreign banks.

After turning net buyers on Tuesday for the first time after 23 successive sessions of net selling, FIIs offloaded shares worth Rs 1,683 crore on a net basis Wednesday, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) bought shares to the extent of Rs 996 crore, according to provisional data from NSE.

For the year so far, FIIs have net sold shares worth Rs 93,443 crore, while DIIs have net bought to the extent of 90,686 crore.

Asian markets were broadly higher this morning while the U.S. dollar slumped to an eight-week trough to the yen and lingered near a one-month low versus sterling as inflation worries abated.

Gold steadied near record high levels while oil prices edged up slightly after falling around 2 percent in the previous session.

U.S. stocks ended a choppy session slightly higher overnight while the dollar eased, and Treasury yields dropped to their lowest level since mid-December after the release of lackluster earnings from tech giants like Alphabet and Advanced Micro Devices and mixed economic data.

Private sector employment increased in January and annual pay was up again year-over-year, while activity in the U.S. services sector eased in January and record high imports pushed the U.S. trade deficit sharply wider in December, separate reports revealed.

The Dow climbed 0.7 percent, the S&P 500 edged up 0.4 percent and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite gained 0.2 percent.

European stocks gained for a second day running on Wednesday as positive earnings results from banks and pharma companies offset concerns about potential U.S. trade tariffs.

The pan European STOXX 600 advanced half a percent. The German DAX rose 0.4 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 added 0.6 percent while France's CAC 40 slid 0.2 percent.