Sensex, Nifty Seen Opening Flat On Weak Global Cues

Indian shares look set to open on a flat note Thursday as investors react to weak global cues and a slew or corporate earnings released after markets hours Wednesday.

Adani Enterprises, Adani Ports, Bajaj Auto, IndusInd Bank, ITC, Larsen & Toubro, SBI Life, Tata Chemicals, Titan Company, United Breweries and United Spirts are among the prominent companies that unveiled their quarterly earnings results late Wednesday.

Benchmark indexes Sensex and the Nifty ended down about 0.3 percent on Wednesday to snap two days of gains, while the rupee weakened by 7 paise to close at 75.03 against the greenback.

Asian markets were broadly lower this morning on concerns that monetary policy tightening to check inflation might choke economic growth.

Gold consolidated near the key $1,800 level, as the dollar dipped and U.S. bond yields pulled back ahead of the Bank of Japan and the European Central Bank policy meetings later in the day.

Markets also await the U.S. Federal Reserve policy meeting on Nov. 3 for clues as to the pace of tapering and the timing of the first Fed rate hike.

Commodities including aluminum, iron ore and crude oil dropped while Brent crude prices extended losses to hover near two-week low after official data showed a surprise jump in U.S. inventories of crude. Bitcoin retreated below $60,000, after having reached almost $67,000 reached last week.

U.S. stocks ended mostly lower overnight as investors digested earnings results from mega-cap tech companies and weak durable goods orders data.

The Dow gave up 0.7 percent and the S&P 500 declined half a percent while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite ended flat with a positive bias.

European stocks closed lower on Wednesday as concerns over China hit metal prices and Germany downgraded its growth outlook. Investors also mulled the implications of the latest U.K. Budget.

The pan European Stoxx 600 eased 0.4 percent. The German DAX and the U.K.’s FTSE 100 both fell around 0.3 percent while France’s CAC 40 index dipped 0.2 percent.