Sensex, Nifty Seen Higher At Open

(RTTNews) - Indian shares look set to open on a positive note Friday, tracking firm cues from global markets. That said, surging oil prices amid supply fears may lead to some volatility as the session progresses.

It appears that China and India are likely to scale back Russian oil imports as U.S. President Donald Trump tries to bring an end to war in Ukraine.

Responding to the latest sanctions, Russian President Vladimir Putin said the country will never bow to U.S. pressure but conceded new sanctions could cause some economic pain.

Benchmark indexes Sensex and Nifty pared sharp early gains to end on a flat note Thursday as surging oil prices after the announcement of U.S. sanctions on major Russian suppliers Rosneft and Lukoil offset investor optimism for a near-future India-U.S. trade deal. The rupee rose by 7 paise to close at 87.86 against the U.S. dollar.

Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal on Thursday said he hoped for a trade deal with the U.S. to materialize in the "near future". He added that the teams of both countries were in dialogue and that talks were "progressing."

Foreign investors net sold shares worth Rs 1,166 crore on Thursday while domestic institutional investors net bought shares to the tune of Rs 3,894 crore, according to provisional exchange data.

Asian markets were mostly higher this morning as a plan for Donald Trump and Xi Jinping to meet eased nerves around a trade war.

U.S. Treasury yields rose, and the dollar index was little changed ahead of the delayed publication of September U.S. CPI report later in the day.

Gold was poised to end its nine-week winning streak. West Texas Intermediate futures edged lower after climbing 5.6 percent to settle near $62 a barrel on Thursday, the most since the start of the Israel-Iran conflict on June 13.

U.S. stocks ended higher overnight after President Donald Trump announced that he would meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Oct 30.

It was also reported that a new round of negotiations aimed at resolving escalating trade tensions between the U.S. and China, will take place in Malaysia on Oct. 24-27.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite surged 0.9 percent despite mixed earnings updates from companies like Tesla and IBM Corp. The S&P 500 gained 0.6 percent and the Dow inched up 0.3 percent.

European stocks closed higher on Thursday as mostly positive earnings offset reports suggesting that the White House is considering a plan to curb an array of software-powered exports to China, from laptops to jet engines.

The pan-European Stoxx 600 rose 0.4 percent. The German DAX and France's CAC 40 both edged up by 0.2 percent while the U.K.'s FTSE 100 added 0.7 percent.