It is predicted that Indian stocks will open robustly on Friday, with investors responding to positive global signals and the recent earnings reports from key companies, such as Adani Enterprises and Coal India.
Meanwhile, technology giant Apple declared a record share repurchase scheme and augmented its cash dividend following quarterly results outperforming expectations. Investors are awaiting the imminent release of the U.S. non-farm payrolls report, which may offer further insight regarding potential Federal Reserve interest rate adjustments.
The principal Indian stock indices, Sensex and Nifty, each showed a modest increase of around 0.2% on Thursday, whilst India's currency, the rupee, depreciated by 3 paise, ending the day at 83.46 against the U.S. dollar.
With Japanese and mainland China stock markets closed for holidays, trading volume was lighter for Asian shares, which nonetheless showed a positive upwards trend on Friday morning. The Japanese yen reached a three-week peak against the dollar, and the price of gold held steady above $2,300 per ounce. Despite a minor increase, the cost of oil is set to experience a significant weekly decrease due to demand worries.
American stocks rallied as fears of a rate hike subsided and traders projected an earlier than expected full interest rate cut by the Federal Reserve, likely in November. Statistics last week showed that jobless claims remained at a historical low with new orders for U.S.-manufactured goods showing a robust rise in March. However, worker productivity saw a sharper-than-expected decrease in early 2024, resulting in a notable increase in labor costs.
Both the Dow and the S&P 500 rose by nearly 0.9% while the Nasdaq Composite enjoyed an uptick of 1.5%, driven by the tech sector. The performance of European stocks on Thursday was mixed: a survey revealing a deeper downturn in Eurozone manufacturing activity resulted in a 0.2% decrease for the STOXX 600. The German DAX also fell by 0.2%, and France's CAC 40 dipped 0.9% after signals from the Fed suggested a longer period of higher interest rates. In contrast, the UK's FTSE 100 experienced a marginal gain of 0.6%, thanks to strong corporate earnings.
