Sensex, Nifty Likely To Open On Flat Note; RBI Meeting Eyed

Indian shares are seen opening little changed on Friday, tracking muted cues from global markets.

The three-day meeting of the RBI’s rate-setting panel ends today with analysts expecting the central bank to hold rates at 6.50 percent for a fifth time. It remains to be seen whether the RBI will increase its FY24 GDP forecast of 6.5 percent.

“Q2 GDP growth was very high; it is the highest in the world. We continuously maintain the momentum of the fastest-growing economy. The activities are all across the economy. It is not just one sector doing well. All sectors are growing and growing significantly for us to notice it,” Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Thursday while replying to a short-duration discussion on the state of the economy in the Rajya Sabha.

Benchmark indexes Sensex and Nifty ended Thursday’s session modestly lower, snapping a seven-day winning streak. The rupee fell by 4 paise to close at 83.36 against the dollar.

Asian markets traded mostly lower this morning, with Japanese stocks falling sharply as the yen rose more than 1 percent amid speculation that the Bank of Japan is nearing the end of its negative interest rate policy.

Gold edged up on dollar weakness as investors looked ahead to meetings of four major central banks next week including the FOMC, ECB, BOE and SNB.

Oil prices headed for weekly decline on signs of weakening Asian demand.

U.S. stocks rose overnight as weekly jobless claims ticked up modestly and tech shares such as Alphabet and AMD rallied on optimism about artificial intelligence.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite jumped 1.4 percent to reach its best closing level in over four months while the S&P 500 climbed 0.8 percent and the Dow edged up 0.2 percent to snap a three-day losing streak.

European stocks edged lower on Thursday after weak readings on German industrial output and Eurozone GDP.

The pan European STOXX 600 eased 0.3 percent. The German DAX slipped 0.2 percent, while France’s CAC 40 slid 0.1 percent and the U.K.’s FTSE 100 finished marginally lower.