Sensex, Nifty Seen Drifting Lower On Weak Asian Cues

(RTTNews) - Indian shares are seen opening on a sluggish note Friday amid weak global cues and concerns over rising crude oil prices as investors weigh the prospect for tighter U.S. sanctions against Iran and Russia.

The downside, however, may remain limited as macro data released after market hours on Thursday painted a positive picture of the Indian economy.

India's inflation eased more than expected in November from a 14-month high in the previous month amid a slowdown in food prices, while industrial production expanded at a slightly faster pace in October, separate reports from the National Statistical Office showed.

Consumer price inflation softened to 5.48 percent in November from 6.21 percent in October. Economists had expected inflation to slow to 5.53 percent. In the same period last year, inflation was 5.55 percent.

Industrial production registered an annual growth of 3.5 percent in October, as expected after rising 3.1 percent in the previous month.

Wholesale inflation figures for November will be out later in the day, with economists expecting the inflation rate to edge down to 2.2 percent from October's 2.36 percent.

Benchmark indexes Sensex and Nifty ended Thursday's session modestly lower while the rupee dipped to a new intra-day low of 84.88 before settling at Rs 84.87 per dollar.

Asian markets were broadly lower this morning as investors digested higher-than-expected jobless claims as well as too hot producer price data from the U.S. and looked ahead to next week's Federal Reserve policy meeting.

Meanwhile, the readout from a high-level economic policy meeting in Beijing offered another round of strong language about helping the economy but lacked detail about policy or stimulus moves.

The dollar was little changed as Treasuries steadied after falling across the curve on Thursday.

Gold dipped below $2,700 per ounce but was set for a weekly gain on Fed rate cut optimism. Oil headed for a weekly advance as geopolitical tensions countered concerns around a sizeable supply glut.

U.S. stocks ended lower overnight after the previous session's big gains. The Dow slid half a percent to close lower for the sixth consecutive session as data showed producer prices increased by the most in five months in November and weekly jobless claims unexpectedly rose last week.

The annual rate of producer price growth accelerated to 3.0 percent in November from an upwardly revised 2.6 percent in October, fueling concerns about how quickly the central bank will cut rates early next year.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite shed 0.7 percent and the S&P 500 gave up half a percent.

European stocks turned in a mixed performance on Thursday after the European Central Bank (ECB) and the Swiss National Bank (SNB) both reduced their key interest rates.

The pan European STOXX 600 slipped 0.1 percent. France's CAC 40 finished marginally lower while the German DAX and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 both inched up by 0.1 percent.