Indian shares look set to open little changed on Friday after Fitch Ratings affirmed India’s sovereign rating at ‘BBB-‘ with a negative outlook, but warned the resurgence of Covid-19 infections may delay the country’s economic recovery.
The negative outlook reflected lingering uncertainty around the debt trajectory following the sharp deterioration in India’s public finance metrics due to the pandemic shock from a previous position of limited fiscal headroom.
Benchmark indexes Sensex and the Nifty rebounded from an early sharp plunge to end up around 0.8 percent on Thursday, while the rupee closed 6 paise lower at 74.94 against the U.S. dollar.
A muted trend is seen in other Asian markets this morning while Treasury yields and the dollar held steady. Gold inched higher and was poised for a third straight weekly rise on dollar weakness while oil prices were little changed amid concerns over rising Covid-19 cases in India and Japan.
U.S. stocks fell notably overnight after reports emerged that the Biden administration plans to nearly double the capital gains tax rate for wealthy individuals to fund spending on child care and education.
The Dow, the S&P 500 and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite all fell around 0.9 percent ahead of big tech’s earnings next week.
European stocks ended Thursday’s session higher after the European Central Bank emphasized it was too early to talk about tapering its bond-buying program.
The pan European Stoxx 600 edged up 0.7 percent. The German DAX gained 0.8 percent, France’s CAC 40 index climbed 0.9 percent and the U.K.’s FTSE 100 added 0.6 percent.
Market Analysis
Indian Shares Likely To Open On Lackluster Note
2021-04-23 02:46:03
