Sensex, Nifty Set To Follow Asian Peers Lower

(RTTNews) - Indian shares are seen opening lower on Thursday, tracking weak cues from the U.S. and Asian markets.

Falling oil prices and declining bond yields on the back of weak U.S. data released overnight may help limit the downside to some extent.

Oil prices edged up slightly in Asian trade after having fallen nearly 4 percent on Wednesday to their lowest settlements since June on demand concerns, following a larger-than-expected build in U.S. gasoline inventories.

Closer home, the three-day meeting of the RBI's rate-setting panel started on Wednesday, with analysts expecting the central bank to hold rates at 6.50 percent for a fifth time at the conclusion of its policy meeting on Friday.

Benchmark indexes rose around half a percent each to reach new highs on Wednesday while the rupee settled 5 paise higher at 83.32 against the dollar.

Asian markets traded lower this morning ahead of Chinese trade figures due later in the day. Data released earlier in the day showed Australia's trade balance grew less than expected in October.

The dollar was little changed while gold firmed up ahead of the U.S. jobs report due Friday.

U.S. stocks gave up initial gains to end lower overnight even as weak readings on labor costs and private sector employment added to dovish Fed bets.

The Dow slid 0.2 percent and the S&P 500 dropped 0.4 percent to extend losses for a third straight session due to overbought conditions in the market. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite shed 0.6 percent.

European stocks closed higher on Wednesday amid expectations that global interest rates have peaked.

The pan European STOXX 600 gained half a percent. The German DAX climbed 0.8 percent, France's CAC 40 added 0.7 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 rose 0.3 percent.