Sensex, Nifty Seen Opening Up In Cautious Trade

Indian shares are seen opening on a steady note Wednesday, mirroring positive cues from global markets.

There is some disappointment on the earnings front, with Bharti Airtel’s Q3 consolidated profit coming in below estimates.

Morepen Laboratories reported a 10 percent fall in Q3 profit, while IRCTC’s quarterly profit jumped over two-fold.

A volatile session could be on the offing as investors await the Reserve Bank of India’s comments on inflation and bond yields after the monetary policy review on Thursday.

Benchmark indexes Sensex and the Nifty ended a choppy session up around 0.3 percent each on Tuesday, snapping a three-day losing streak. The rupee slipped 5 paise to close at 74.74 against the dollar.

Asian markets opened higher in cautious trade and the dollar hit a one-month high versus the yen on higher Treasury yields, as investors awaited the release of U.S. inflation data on Thursday for clues to the timing of interest-rate hikes.

Oil prices nudged up following two sessions of losses after industry data showed a surprise drop in U.S. crude and fuel stocks.

Gold held steady near a two-week high amid inflation concerns and Russia-Ukraine tensions, while Bitcoin fell below $44,000.

U.S. stocks rose overnight as tech stocks such as Apple, Microsoft and Amazon posted strong gains and a jump in Treasury yields lifting banking stocks ahead of the key inflation reading.

The Dow rallied 1.1 percent, the Nasdaq Composite climbed 1.3 percent and the S&P 500 added 0.8 percent.

European stocks ended flat to slightly higher on Tuesday, with quarterly earnings updates, diplomatic efforts to defuse the tensions around Ukraine and comments from ECB President Christine Lagarde emphasizing on being gradual and sequenced in policy adjustment providing some direction.

The pan European Stoxx Europe 600 ended flat with a positive bias. The German DAX inched up 0.2 percent and France’s CAC 40 index edged up 0.3 percent while the U.K.’s FTSE 100 finished marginally lower.