Sensex, Nifty Set To Follow Global Peers Higher

Indian shares look set to follow global peers higher on Monday as weak U.S. economic data added to dovish Fed bets.

Earnings will continue to remain in focus, with State Bank of India, Vedanta, Zomato, Bank of Baroda and JSW Infrastructure reporting their financial results post market hours on Friday.

HPCL, Divis Laboratories, NHPC, IRCTC, Power Grid, Bata, Tata Power, Apollo Hospital, Ashok Leyland, Coal India, Hindalco, HAL, LIC, M&M are among the companies due to report their earnings results this week.

Benchmark indexes Sensex and Nifty rose about 1 percent last week to snap their two-week losing streak after a sharp correction in U.S. bond yields and amid a downtrend in oil prices.

Asian stocks advanced this morning and the dollar held steady while gold was little changed near the key $2,000 per ounce level.

Oil prices were marginally higher after having fallen sharply on Friday on demand concerns. Top exporters Saudi Arabia and Russia said they would continue with oil supply curbs of more than 1 million barrels a day through year-end.

In the Middle East, the Israel Défense Forces (IDF) spokesperson Daniel Hagari said that significant strikes have been carried out and the Gaza Strip has been ‘cut into two’.

U.S. stocks rose on Friday while the dollar and bond yields dipped after data showed U.S. jobs growth slowed in October and the unemployment rate ticked up slightly, underscoring views that the Fed is done hiking interest rates.

Data showed employment climbed by 150,000 jobs in October after an addition of a downwardly revised 297,000 jobs in September. The unemployment rate crept up to 3.9 percent from 3.8 percent in September.

Separate data showed a bigger than expected slowdown in the pace of growth in U.S. service sector activity in the month.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite surged 1.4 percent, the S&P 500 gained 0.9 percent and the Dow added 0.7 percent.

European stocks fluctuated before finishing mostly higher on Friday, continuing the week’s rally on dovish Fed bets.

The pan European STOXX 600 rose 0.2 percent to extend gains for the fifth consecutive session.

The German DAX edged up 0.3 percent, while France’s CAC 40 slipped 0.2 percent and the U.K.’s FTSE 100 dropped 0.4 percent.