Sensex, Nifty Set To Follow Asian Peers Lower Ahead Of China Trade Data

(RTTNews) - Indian shares may open on a lackluster note Thursday and volatility is not ruled out amid selling by foreign investors and ahead of Nifty weekly expiry.

Foreign institutional investors (FII) offloaded shares worth net Rs 6,669.10 crore on Wednesday, while domestic institutional investors (DII) bought shares worth net Rs 5,928.81 crore, according to the provisional data available on the NSE.

Shares of Hindustan Petroleum Corporation and Bharat Petroleum Corporation could be in focus ahead of their quarterly earnings results and amid news that both the companies will consider a bonus issue proposal in their board meet.

SBI is scheduled to unveil its Q4 earnings results later today. Larsen & Toubro has declared a final dividend of Rs. 28 per share after Q4 net profit beat estimates.

Benchmark indexes Sensex and Nifty ended a choppy session little changed on Wednesday while the rupee settled on a flat note at 83.51 against the dollar.

Asian markets traded mostly lower this morning, with Chinese and Hong Kong stocks bucking the weak trend ahead of the release of Chinese trade data later in the day.

The dollar was stable, and gold held steady while oil extended overnight gains as investors digested mixed inventory data and awaited more clarity on a potential ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.

U.S. stocks ended mixed overnight as Treasury yields rose after a 10-year notes auction.

The Dow inched up 0.4 percent to extend gains for a sixth consecutive session and close above 39,000 points for the first time in five weeks.

The S&P 500 finished marginally lower and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite eased 0.2 percent.

European stocks rose for a fourth straight session on Wednesday as Sweden's central bank cut interest rates for the first time in eight years and signaled two more rate reductions during the second half of the year.

The pan European STOXX 600 gained 0.3 percent. The German DAX edged up 0.4 percent, France's CAC 40 added 0.7 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 rose half a percent.