Sensex, Nifty Seen Flat To Higher At Open

Indian shares may open higher on Wednesday after RBI governor Shaktikanta Das has said that GDP growth for the second quarter of FY24 is likely to surpass expectations based on early indicators.

Meanwhile, output growth in India’s eight core sectors slowed to a four-month low of 8.1 percent in September, after reaching a 14-month high at 12.5 percent in August, data showed.

Earnings from the likes of Larsen & Toubro, Bharti Airtel and GAIL prove to be a mixed bag while global cues remain supportive ahead of the Fed’s rate decision later today and the Bank of England’s policy announcement on Thursday.

The U.S. central bank is widely expected to leave interest rates unchanged, with traders likely to pay close attention to the accompanying statement for clues about the outlook for rates.

Benchmark indexes Sensex and Nifty ended slightly lower on Tuesday following two days of gains.

The rupee ended on a flat note but notched a fourth monthly decline on sustained foreign fund outflows.

Asian markets traded mostly higher this morning, with Japan’s Nikkei rallying more than 2 percent amid a weakening yen, a day after the Bank of Japan tweaked its loose monetary policy.

In the Middle East, Israeli airstrikes hit a densely populated refugee camp in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, killing at least 50 Palestinians and a Hamas commander.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken will visit Israel today and make other stops in the region, State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said.

Gold softened a little bit in Asian trade while oil edged up slightly after plunging more than 5 percent in the first two days of the week.

U.S. stocks ended higher overnight but logged losses for a third straight month on concerns about interest rates and Middle East tensions.

In economic releases, employment costs unexpectedly accelerated in the third quarter, while consumer confidence declined for a third straight month in October, separate reports showed.

The Dow edged up 0.4 percent, the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite added half a percent and the S&P 500 climbed 0.7 percent after the U.S. Treasury cut its estimate of how much the government would need to borrow in the fourth quarter.

Likewise, European stocks rose on Tuesday, but suffered their biggest monthly loss in about a year.

The pan European STOXX 600 advanced 0.6 percent. The German DAX rose 0.6 percent and France’s CAC 40 jumped 0.9 percent while the U.K.’s FTSE 100 finished marginally lower.