Sensex, Nifty Set To Follow Asian Peers Higher

(RTTNews) - Indian shares are seen opening higher on Friday, though higher levels may attract profit booking amid an uncertain global macroeconomic environment.

Benchmark indexes Sensex and the Nifty ended Thursday's session modestly lower and the rupee fell by 37 paise to close at 81.63 against the dollar amid uncertainty over a December Fed pivot.

Asian markets were broadly higher this morning despite news that North Korea has launched an intercontinental ballistic missile that likely landed in Japan.

The dollar consolidated as Treasury yields held Thursday's gains across the curve.

Gold was on track for a weekly fall, while oil edged up from a three-week closing low hit overnight.

U.S. stocks saw wild swings before closing lower overnight and Treasury yields climbed on the back of mixed economic data and hawkish comments from St. Louis Federal Reserve President James Bullard.

Bullard said that previous interest-rate hikes have had limited effect on inflation, and that there is room for the Fed to raise interest rates by at least another full percentage point to 5 percent and 5.25 percent, above the level currently priced in by financial markets.

The Dow ended flat with a negative bias, the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite shed 0.4 percent and the S&P 500 eased 0.3 percent.

European stocks ended mixed on Thursday, as Britain unveiled an austerity budget and data showed Eurozone inflation increased year on year to a record high of 10.7 in October.

The pan European Stoxx 600 declined 0.4 percent. The German DAX inched up 0.2 percent, while France's CAC 40 index slipped half a percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 finished marginally lower.