Sensex, Nifty Set For Muted Start

(RTTNews) - Indian shares are seen opening little changed on Thursday after reports emerged that the sixth round of talks over an India-United States trade agreement will take place shortly.

Union Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal has said India is in active dialogue with the United States for a free trade agreement and that negotiations with the European Union and New Zealand are also underway.

However, analysts say that India will stick to its red lines - including a refusal to slash import duties on agricultural and dairy products and an assertion of its sovereign right to decide purchases of commodities, especially crude petroleum.

Benchmark indexes Sensex and Nifty both rose around 0.4 percent on Wednesday, led by gains in IT stocks on hopes of a breakthrough in India-U.S. trade talks.

The rupee recovered from a record low to close up by 4 paise at 88.11 against the dollar.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded shares worth Rs 115.69 crore on a net basis on Wednesday, while domestic institutional investors bought shares to the tune of Rs 5,004.29 crore, as per provisional data.

Asian stocks were mixed this morning, with mainland Chinese and Hong Kong markets retreating after Mexico imposed tariffs up to 50 percent on over 1,400 products from China and other Asian countries, aiming to boost domestic production and offset U.S. trade pressures.

Treasuries held steady in Asian trade after rallying across the curve on Wednesday. The dollar index was little changed while gold was unmoved after rising in the previous session.

Oil prices rose for a fourth consecutive session after U.S. President Donald Trump asked European officials to levy tariffs of up to 100 percent on imports from China and India.

U.S. stocks ended mixed overnight while Treasury yields touched their lowest level since April as softer-than-expected U.S. inflation data boosted hopes for Federal Reserve interest rate cuts.

The S&P 500 rose 0.3 percent and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite inched up marginally to reach new record closing highs while the Dow declined half a percent.

European stocks ended mostly lower on Wednesday amid heightened geopolitical tensions following Israel's attack on Hamas leadership in Qatar and Russia's intensified military actions near Ukraine, with NATO forces shooting down Russian drones over Poland.

The pan European STOXX 600 finished marginally lower as French President Emmanuel Macron named close ally Sebastien Lecornu as the new Prime Minister.

France's CAC 40 edged up by 0.2 percent while the German DAX dipped 0.4 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 slid 0.2 percent.