Sensex, Nifty Seen Higher On Firm Global Cues

Indian shares look set to open higher on Thursday, mirroring firm cues from global markets.

Meanwhile, the minutes of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting between December and December 7 revealed that the RBI believes a premature pause in monetary policy action would be a costly policy error at this juncture.

Benchmark indexes Sensex and Nifty fell over 1 percent each on Wednesday and the rupee ended down 14 paise at 82.84 against the greenback amid fears emanating from a sharp rise in cases of coronavirus in China, South Korea, U.S. and other countries.

Asian markets were broadly higher this morning after Wall Street’s three main stock indexes logged strong gains overnight.

The Japanese yen firmed towards its recent four-month peak against the dollar while Treasuries were little changed, and gold held steady ahead of the latest weekly U.S. jobless claim numbers and the U.S. GDP data for the third quarter due out later in the day.

Oil extended gains for a fourth day after data showed a larger-than-expected draw in U.S. crude stockpiles.

Traders also tracked the fallout from Group of Seven sanctions targeting Russia’s crude exports and revenues.

U.S. stocks rose for a second straight session overnight on the back of upbeat consumer confidence data and solid earnings from corporate giants Nike and FedEx.

The Dow surged 1.6 percent, while the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite climbed around 1.5 percent each.

European stocks ended Wednesday’s session on a buoyant note after a report showed improvement in German consumer sentiment.

The pan European STOXX 600 advanced 1.7 percent. The German DAX rallied 1.5 percent, France’s CAC 40 index surged 2 percent and the U.K.’s FTSE 100 added 1.7 percent.