Sensex, Nifty Set To Drift Lower On Growth Worries

(RTTNews) - Indian shares may open a tad lower on Friday after the World Bank cut India's GDP growth forecast for the fiscal year 2022-23 to 6.5 percent from 7.5 percent estimated earlier, citing the spill overs from the Russia-Ukraine war and global monetary policy tightening.

The IMF also warned that things are more likely to get worse before it gets better.

In another development, global investment bank Morgan Stanley has downgraded India to 'underweight' following its outperformance to other emerging market peers year-to-date.

Benchmark indexes Sensex and Nifty ended up around 0.3 percent each on Thursday while the rupee plunged 32 paise to close at a record low of 81.94 against the greenback. Asian stocks were moving lower this morning while the dollar and yields remained elevated ahead of a crucial U.S. jobs report due later in the day.

Investors were also reacting to hawkish comments by Fed officials including Fed Governor Lisa Cook, Chicago Fed President Charles Evans and Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari emphasizing that inflation is very high right now and they were not prepared to change course.

Oil prices held steady in Asian trade and headed for their biggest weekly rally since March following OPEC's controversial move to cut oil production by two million barrels a day.

U.S. stocks ended lower for a second straight session overnight as the jobs report loomed and rising oil prices post OPEC+ cut added to inflation woes.

The Dow fell 1.2 percent, the S&P 500 shed 1 percent and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite declined 0.7 percent.

European stocks reversed early gains to end lower on Thursday as Fed pivot hopes faded and the latest data from Germany and the euro area disappointed.

The pan European Stoxx 600 gave up 0.6 percent. The German DAX slipped 0.4 percent, while France's CAC 40 index and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 both dipped around 0.8 percent.