Sensex, Nifty Set For Cautious Start

Indian shares look set to open on a cautious note Wednesday as oil continued its rally after settling around 4 percent higher overnight.

Global financial firm Credit Suisse has downgraded India’s equities to ‘Underweight’ from ‘Overweight’ as surging commodity prices exacerbate inflationary pressures.

Benchmark indexes Sensex and the Nifty reversed early losses to end up around 1 percent each on Tuesday, snapping a four-day losing run.

The rupee fell by 7 paise to close at a record low of 77 against the dollar, extending losses for the fifth day running.

Asian markets were mostly higher this morning and U.S. equity futures held steady while gold dipped, weighed down by a stronger dollar and U.S. Treasury yields.

U.S. stocks ended lower for the fourth straight session overnight as President Joe Biden officially announced a U.S. ban on Russian imports of oil and energy, a development analysts warned could result in higher inflation and slower economic growth.

Earlier in the day, the European Commission outlined its strategy to reduce Russian gas imports by two-thirds by the end of this year.

The Dow dropped 0.6 percent, the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite eased 0.3 percent and the S&P 500 dipped 0.7 percent.

European stocks ended mostly lower on Tuesday, giving up sharp early gains on reports the European Union is mulling a joint bond sale to fund energy and defense spending.

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

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