Sensex, Nifty Seen Slightly Lower With Earnings In Focus

(RTTNews) - Indian shares look set to open slightly lower on Monday as investors reacted to mixed earnings results from the likes of Reliance Industries, Hindustan Unilever, ICICI Bank and Kotak Mahindra Bank.

Axis Bank, Bajaj Auto, Colgate-Palmolive (India), Havells India, Pidilite Industries, CEAT, DLF, Tata Steel, Tech Mahindra, TVS Motor Company, Cipla, JSW Steel, and SBI Life Insurance Company are among the prominent companies due to report their earnings results in the holiday shortened week marked with the F&O expiry and the Republic Day holiday.

On the global front, the focus this week centers on key events such as the Federal Reserve's preferred PCE price index, U.S. Q4 GDP release and key earnings results from companies like Intel, IBM Corp. and Netflix.

Asian stocks traded mixed this morning, with Chinese and Hong Kong markets retreating on growth worries while Japan's Nikkei index was up over 1 percent ahead of the highly anticipated Bank of Japan policy meeting.

The dollar struggled to keep gains and gold steadied while oil extended losses for a second day running on concerns over the global oil demand outlook.

U.S. stocks rose sharply to return to record heights on Friday, reflecting continued strength among tech stocks as new data showed a significant improvement in U.S. consumer sentiment and continued decreases in both year-ahead and long-run inflation expectations.

The Dow and the S&P 500 climbed 1.1 percent and 1.2 percent, respectively to set new record closing highs, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq jumped 1.7 percent to reach its best closing level in two years.

European stocks closed slightly lower on Friday as German and British economic data disappointed, and ECB President Christine Lagarde refrained from commenting on monetary policy during her commentary on the economic outlook.

The pan European STOXX 600 declined 0.3 percent. The German DAX ended flat with a negative bias and France's CAC 40 eased 0.4 percent while the U.K.'s FTSE 100 finished marginally higher.