Sensex, Nifty Seen Slightly Higher On Firm Asian Cues

(RTTNews) - Indian shares look set to open higher on Friday after crude prices fell more than $2 a barrel overnight amid easing Middle East fears.

Israel has heeded to US' request of delaying its Gaza invasion to make time to negotiate hostage releases and keep humanitarian aid flowing into Gaza.

The upside, however, may remain limited due to cloudy earnings and signs that the U.S. Federal Reserve will keep interest rates higher for longer than hoped.

Benchmark indexes Sensex and Nifty tumbled around 1.4 percent each to extend losses for the sixth straight session on Thursday, while the rupee ended down 5 paise at 83.23 against the dollar.

Asian markets were seeing modest gains this morning as the dollar steadied after hitting a three-week high in the previous session on robust U.S. GDP data.

Gold edged up slightly while oil rose about 1 percent but headed for its first weekly loss in three.

U.S. stocks fell notably overnight as investors weighed disappointing tech earnings against upbeat GDP data.

Treasury yields lingered near 5 percent after data showed the U.S. economy grew at a 4.9 percent annualized rate in the third quarter, above forecasts and the roughly 2 percent pace seen in the prior two quarters reflecting a surge in consumer spending.

In other economic news, durable goods orders jumped more than double economist's expectations in September, while initial jobless claims rose last week but still reflected a robust workforce.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite slumped 1.8 percent deeper into correction territory, while the S&P 500 gave up 1.2 percent and the Dow dropped 0.8 percent.

European stocks fell on Thursday after a slew of disappointing earnings.

The pan European STOXX 600 dropped half a percent as the European Central Bank sounded cautious about the economic outlook and stressed a 'higher for longer' message on rates.

The German DAX lost 1.1 percent, France's CAC 40 eased 0.4 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 shed 0.8 percent.