Sensex, Nifty To Follow Global Peers Higher After Weak US Data

(RTTNews) - Indian shares look set to open higher on Monday amid improved global sentiment as weak U.S. data raised hopes that the Federal Reserve could start cutting interest rates soon.

Kotak Mahindra Bank shares could be in focus after the private sector bank reported an 18 percent increase in Q4 net profit on healthy loan growth.

Crude oil price movements, Q4 results from other prominent domestic companies and news reports around ongoing Lok Sabha elections 2024 may sway sentiment as the trading day progresses.

On the economic front, the HSBC Services PMI (final) numbers for April, foreign exchange reserves data for the week ended May 3 and industrial production numbers for March are awaited this week.

Asian stocks traded higher this morning and the dollar held broadly steady while oil and gold prices were seeing modest gains.

U.S. stocks soared on Friday as Apple reported strong earnings results and a weaker-than-expected April jobs report along with an unexpected contraction in service sector activity in April boosted the case for rate cuts by the third quarter.

Data showed that non-farm payroll employment climbed by 175,000 jobs in April after surging by an upwardly revised 315,000 jobs in March. The jobless rate crept up to 3.9 percent from 3.8 percent in March.

The Dow climbed 1.2 percent, the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite surged 2 percent and the S&P 500 rallied 1.3 percent.

European stocks closed higher on Friday, with a slew of strong earnings and rate-cut expectations helping underpin investor sentiment.

The pan European STOXX 600 gained half a percent. The German DAX rose 0.6 percent, while France's CAC 40 and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 both added about half a percent.