Sensex, Nifty Seen Modestly Higher At Open

(RTTNews) - Indian shares are seen opening modestly higher on Monday ahead of a busy week, with Q3 earnings results and economic reports on retail inflation, industrial output and trade balance likely to be in focus.

Bharat Forge, BHEL, Coal India, DLF, Eicher Motors, Hindalco, IRCTC, Mahindra & Mahindra, NHPC and SAIL are among the prominent companies due to unveil their third quarter results this week.

CPI and industrial production figures will be out later in the day followed by WPI data on February 14 and trade figures on February 15.

Asian markets were mostly lower in holiday trade this morning ahead of key U.S. inflation data due this week that will help identify the rate path ahead.

Major markets including China, Hong Kong, South Korea, Taiwan, Malaysia and Singapore remain closed for public holidays.

The dollar traded flat, and gold was marginally lower while oil prices slipped following last week's advance, as Iran's foreign minister said the war in Gaza could be nearer to a "diplomatic solution".

U.S. stocks rose on Friday after revised data showed U.S. monthly consumer prices rose less than initially estimated in December.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite rallied 1.3 percent to close at its highest level in more than 2 years and the S&P 500 added 0.6 percent to end above 5,000 for the first time ever and book a fifth straight week of gains, while the narrower Dow slipped 0.1 percent.

European stocks closed lower on Friday as investors digested the latest batch of earnings, German inflation data and comments from BOE policymaker Jonathan Haskel that he wants more evidence of price stability.

The pan European STOXX 600 finished marginally lower. The German DAX and France's CAC 40 both dipped around 0.2 percent while the U.K.'s FTSE 100 eased 0.3 percent.