Indian stocks are set to open with gains on Friday, as weak employment indicators from the United States have decreased demand for the dollar and Treasury yields. However, uncertainties regarding the ongoing Lok Sabha elections in 2024 and the consistent foreign institutional investor selling could trigger some profit-taking as the session advances.
In other global news, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has resisted international calls to cease the ongoing conflict in Gaza. He declared that Israel will continue to wage war against Hamas independently if necessary.
In business, major companies like Bank of India, Bank of Baroda, Cipla, Eicher Motors, and Tata Motors will release their quarterly results today. Despite this, Indian benchmark indexes like the Sensex and Nifty plunged around 1.5 percent each on Thursday, marking a third consecutive day of losses. The rupee appreciated marginally, gaining 2 paise to close at 83.50 against the dollar.
In correspondence with Wall Street's positive performance, Asian markets opened higher on Friday morning as the dollar sustained losses and gold maintained its firm standing above $2,350 per ounce. These developments indicate that the weakening US jobs market could lead to a weekly gain for gold. Similarly, oil is likely set for a weekly increase due to renewed optimism about rate cuts in the US.
Previous night, US shares saw significant hikes after data revealed an increase in the number of Americans filing new unemployment benefit claims. This number reached an eight-month high last week, raising expectations of rate reductions by the Federal Reserve in the upcoming months. With a climb of 0.9 percent, the Dow Jones continued its winning streak for a seventh consecutive session, achieving a one-month closing high.
In contrast, the S&P 500 saw a gain of half a percent, and the tech-centred Nasdaq Composite rose a modest 0.3 percent. European shares also experienced an uptick for five straight sessions after the Bank of England decided to maintain steady interest rates. However, this could change with rate cuts planned for the summer if the inflation rate remains low. Consequently, the pan European STOXX 600 followed suit with a 0.2 percent rise, Germany's DAX rallied 1 percent, while France's CAC 40 and the UK's FTSE 100 saw gains of 0.7 and 0.3 percent, respectively.
