Indian Shares Seen Lower At Open On Muted Global Cues

(RTTNews) - Indian shares are seen opening on a cautious note Wednesday as investors await a third consecutive Fed rate cut, the U.S. central bank's latest dot plot, economic projections and comments from Fed Chair Jerome Powell at the post-meeting press conference later in the day for directional cues.

Traders remain anxious about the Federal Reserve's future easing pace, given conflicting trends of a cooling job market and sticky inflation, as well as gaps in the data from the government shutdown.

Persistent uncertainty surrounding a U.S. trade deal and continued foreign outflows may also keep investors on edge.

As part of ongoing efforts to finalize a bilateral trade agreement, the Deputy U.S. Ambassador for Trade, Rick Switzer, is set to visit India and engage in high-level discussions with Indian officials today and tomorrow.

Benchmark indexes Sensex and Nifty fell around half a percent each on Tuesday, extending the previous session's sharp slide after reports suggested that U.S. President Donald Trump may impose additional tariffs on rice exports from nations, including India.

The rupee gained 17 paise to close at 89.88 against the greenback due to weakness of the American dollar in the overseas market.

Asian markets were broadly lower this morning and the U.S. Treasury 10-year yield hovered at around 4.18 percent following an auction of the securities on Tuesday, while the dollar held steady near a one-week high after a two-day advance.

Gold edged up slightly ahead of the FOMC decision while silver topped $60 an ounce for the first time on continued supply tightness. Oil was little changed after falling 3 percent over the previous two sessions.

Overnight, U.S. stocks fluctuated before closing narrowly mixed as the JOLTs survey showed a recovery in vacancies for September and October, and the ADP report revealed that private payrolls increased by 4,750 on average per week in the four weeks ending on November 22, rekindling debate over the path of Federal Reserve interest-rate cuts.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite inched up 0.1 percent while the S&P 500 finished marginally lower and the Dow dipped 0.4 percent.

European stocks closed slightly lower on Tuesday as investors braced for the Fed's final decision of the year on interest rates.

The pan European Stoxx 600 slid 0.1 percent. The German DAX rose half a percent while France's CAC 40 shed 0.7 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 finished marginally lower.