Sensex, Nifty Seen Marginally Higher At Open

(RTTNews) - Indian shares are seen opening marginally higher on Thursday, with FMCG stocks likely to be in focus after the Union Cabinet approved an increase in the Minimum Support Prices (MSPs) for all 14 kharif crops.

Meanwhile, with India set to enter J.P. Morgan's flagship Emerging Market Local Currency Government Bond indices (GBI-EM GD) index from June 28, JP Morgan said that non-resident holdings of India Government Bonds are likely to nearly double over the next year, rising from the current 2.5 percent of outstanding bonds to over 4.4 percent.

Benchmark indexes Sensex and Nifty both hit fresh record highs for the fourth consecutive session on Wednesday before ending narrowly mixed. The rupee ended down 1 paise at 83.44 against the dollar.

Asian markets traded mixed this morning as China left benchmark lending rates unchanged at a monthly fixing, as widely expected.

Japanese markets led regional losses as the dollar dipped against the yen due to lack of new catalysts after a holiday in the U.S.

The pound sterling held steady ahead of the Bank of England rate decision later in the day.

Gold edged up slightly in Asian trading while oil prices traded mixed ahead of the release of weekly inventory data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration that may show another rise in nationwide crude inventories.

The U.S. markets were closed on Wednesday for the Juneteenth holiday.

European stocks closed broadly lower on Wednesday after the European Commission reprimanded France for breaching the EU's budget rules. The pan European STOXX 600 dipped 0.2 percent after two days of gains.

The German DAX shed 0.4 percent and France's CAC 40 gave up 0.8 percent while the U.K.'s FTSE 100 edged up 0.2 percent after the release of encouraging inflation and house price data.