Sensex, Nifty Set To Open Lower On Weak Asian Cues

Indian shares are set to open lower on Friday following losses in Asian peers and amid caution ahead of key infrastructure output and fiscal deficit numbers due out later in the day.

IT stocks will continue to remain in focus after Tech Mahindra reported a 40 percent year-on-year jump in Q1 profit. Container Corporation of India, TVS Motor and Jindal Stainless are among other prominent companies that unveiled their earnings results after market hours Thursday.

Benchmark indexes Sensex and the Nifty ended a range-bound session modestly higher on Thursday as futures and option contracts for the month of July expired. The rupee gained 9 paise to close at 74.29 against the greenback.

Asian markets fell broadly this morning as Amazon warned investors its sales growth would decelerate in the third quarter and traders weighed risks from China’s crackdown on a range of industries, including education, property and tech sectors.

The dollar held near one-month low and was on track for its worst weekly showing since May, while gold held near a two-week high. Oil prices fell in Asian trade but were on track to post solid gains for the week.

U.S. stocks eked out modest gains overnight as weaker than expected data cemented expectations that monetary policy will remain accommodative a while longer.

The Commerce Department said real U.S. GDP surged up by 6.5 percent in the second quarter following a 6.3 percent jump in the first quarter. Economists had expected GDP to spike by 8.5 percent.

Pending home sales dropped in June and jobless claims pulled back less than expected in the week ended July 24th, offering more evidence that the economic recovery has started to slow.

The Dow and the S&P 500 set new record intraday highs before ending up around 0.4 percent. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite inched up 0.1 percent.

European markets advanced on Thursday, with dovish Fed comments on interest rates and a slew of upbeat earnings updates underpinning sentiment.

The pan European Stoxx 600 gained half a percent. The German DAX rose half a percent, France’s CAC 40 index edged up 0.4 percent and the U.K.’s FTSE 100 added 0.9 percent.

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