Sensex, Nifty Seen Lower On Wall Street Cues

(RTTNews) - Indian shares are likely to open lower on Friday as uncertainty prevails about where U.S. interest rates are heading.

Adani Group stocks would be in focus after index provider MSCI cut the free-float designations of four securities of the group and Norway's sovereign wealth fund said it has sold its remaining stake in the group companies.

On the earnings front, LIC posted multi-fold growth in Q3 consolidated net profit and IRCTC reported a 22 percent rise in Q3 net profit, while Zomato's quarterly loss widened from last year.

Benchmark indexes Sensex and Nifty rose slightly on Thursday to extend gains for a second straight session, while the rupee settled flat at 82.54 against the dollar.

Asian markets traded mostly lower this morning as investors positioned for a protracted period of high U.S. interest rates.

The dollar was on the back foot as investors looked ahead to the release of U.S. inflation data next week for additional clues on the pace of rate hikes.

Gold traded flat and headed for a weekly loss while oil extended losses from the previous session.

U.S. stocks declined overnight as hawkish comments by some Federal Reserve officials and an inversion of the U.S. Treasury bond yield curve stoked recession fears.

The Dow shed 0.7 percent, the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite lost 1 percent and the S&P 500 gave up 0.9 percent amid increased bets for the Fed to hike its policy rate to 6 percent by September.

European stocks closed higher for a third consecutive session on Thursday on the back of some encouraging earnings updates and data showing a slowdown in German inflation.

The pan European STOXX gained 0.6 percent. The German DAX rose 0.7 percent, France's CAC 40 index rallied 1 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 edged up 0.3 percent.