Sensex, Nifty Seen Higher At Open

(RTTNews) - Indian shares look set to open a tad higher on Monday as investors digest macroeconomic data and await quarterly earnings results from HDFC Bank, Hindustan Unilever, Asian Paints, IndusInd and UltraTech Cement this week.

Oil price movements, investment by FPIs, geopolitical tensions and WPI data will also be monitored.

India's consumer price inflation accelerated further in December to the highest level in four months on food prices but remained within the central bank's tolerance band of 2-6 percent, official data showed on Friday.

The CPI rose an annual 5.69 percent in December, following October's 5.55 percent gain. The actual inflation was below economists' forecast of 5.87 percent.

Meanwhile, industrial output growth weakened more than expected in November.

Industrial output registered an annual increase of 2.4 percent after posting a double-digit revised expansion of 11.6 percent in October.

Wipro on Friday reported a better-than-expected rise in Q3 revenue while HCL Technologies slightly reduced its revenue growth guidance for FY24.

Asian markets were broadly lower this morning ahead of a busy week packed with key Chinese economic readings, U.S. retail sales data and earnings reports from Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley.

Financial markets showed little reaction to news of agreement on a two-tranche stopgap bill to avert U.S. government shutdown and the victory of the ruling, pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party in Taiwan.

The dollar wobbled in Asian trade while oil and gold were seeing modest gains.

U.S. stocks ended little changed on Friday as investors reacted to mixed corporate earnings and cooler-than-expected producer price inflation data. The S&P 500 and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite both inched up marginally while the Dow slipped 0.3 percent.

European stocks closed higher on Friday after upbeat U.K. GDP data and dovish comments from ECB President Christine Lagarde.

The pan European STOXX 600 climbed 0.8 percent. The German DAX rallied 1 percent, France's CAC 40 jumped 1.1 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 added 0.6 percent.