Sensex, Nifty Set To Drift Lower On Interest Rate Concerns

(RTTNews) - Indian shares may open on a sluggish note Friday as investors face up to the prospect that the path to a Fed pivot will be a long and winding one.

Auto and oil marketing companies could be in focus today after petrol and diesel prices were cut by Rs. 2 per liter across the country.

Share of One97Communications may rise after Paytm was granted a third-party application provider license by the country's payments authority.

The move will allow Paytm to facilitate payments after its banking unit ceases operations on March 15 due to regulatory issues.

Benchmark indexes Sensex and Nifty rose around half a percent and 0.7 percent, respectively on Thursday after having suffered heavy losses the previous day amid concerns surrounding elevated valuations in the broader market. The rupee ended marginally lower at 82.82 against the dollar.

Asian markets slipped into the red this morning as the People's Bank of China left its key policy rate unchanged and investors kept a close eye on critical wage negotiations in Japan.

Treasuries steadied after selling off Thursday and gold was little changed while oil prices fell on a stronger dollar, after having hit a four-month high the previous day as the IEA forecast a supply deficit through 2024.

U.S. stocks declined overnight as hotter-than-expected inflation producer inflation print sent Treasury yields higher and cast doubt on a June rate cut.

The producer price inflation rose 0.6 percent in February from last month, outpacing the modest 0.3 percent gain forecasted by economists.

Retail sales numbers for February came in short of estimates while unemployment claims dipped unexpectedly during the preceding week, separate reports revealed.

The Dow dipped 0.4 percent, while the S&P 500 and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite both gave up around 0.3 percent.

European stocks closed broadly lower on Thursday amid increased anxiety about the outlook for interest rates.

The pan European STOXX 600 eased 0.2 percent. The German DAX slipped 0.1 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 shed 0.4 percent while France's CAC 40 added 0.3 percent.