Indian Shares Set To Follow Global Peers Higher

(RTTNews) - Indian shares are seen opening higher on Thursday, tracking firm cues from global markets.

The upside, however, may be capped by concerns about rising oil prices and amid caution ahead of a highly-anticipated speech from the U.S. Federal Reserve chair at the end of the week.

Investors are pinning hopes that Fed Chair Jerome Powell will offer clarity on the pace of future rate rises. Traders also wait for minutes of the ECB's last policy meeting due later in the day that could sound hawkish.

Benchmark indexes Sensex and the Nifty ended yet another choppy session marginally higher on Wednesday, while the rupee closed up 0.1 percent at 79.80 against the dollar, shrugging off the threat from oil prices climbing above $100 per barrel.

Asian markets traded mostly higher, though Chinese and Hong Kong stocks edged lower on worries over the health of the Chinese economy.

Gold inched higher as the dollar eased from a near two-decade peak. Oil prices rose for a third straight session after data showed the U.S. shipped a record amount of crude and refined products overseas last week.

U.S. stocks eked out modest gains overnight to snap a three-day losing streak, as a measure of pending home sales fell less than expected in July and new orders for U.S. manufactured durable goods came in unchanged.

The Dow edged up 0.2 percent, the S&P 500 gained 0.3 percent and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite index added 0.4 percent.

European stocks closed higher for the first time in three days on Wednesday amid expectations that Fed Chair Powell may use his Jackson Hole speech to stress a slower pace of rate hikes.

The pan European Stoxx 600 inched up 0.2 percent. The German DAX gained 0.2 percent and France's CAC 40 rose 0.4 percent while the U.K.'s FTSE 100 slipped 0.2 percent.