Indian Shares Poised For Weak Opening

Indian shares look set to open on a subdued note Thursday as investors await the Reserve Bank of India’s interest-rate decision and policy guidance due on Friday for direction.

Market participants will also closely watch the outcome of the bilateral talks between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Putin embarks on a pivotal two-day visit to India, marking his first since the Ukraine conflict began. On Friday, both Modi and Putin will hold talks at Hyderabad House as part of the 23rd India-Russia Annual Summit.

Benchmark indexes Sensex and Nifty recouped early losses to end marginally lower on Wednesday, extending losses for a fourth consecutive session.

The rupee hit a record low of 90.30 before settling at 90.21 against the dollar, down 25 paise from its previous close.

Foreign investors net sold shares worth Rs 3,207 crore on Wednesday while domestic institutional investors net bought shares to the extent of Rs 4,730 crore, according to provisional exchange data.

Asian markets were mostly lower this morning, even as Japan’s Nikkei surged over 1 percent as investors rotated from chip makers into robotics names like Fanuc and Yaskawa.

The dollar hit a five-week low and gold held steady above $4,200 per ounce after U.S. private payrolls logged their biggest drop in more than two-and-a-half years.

U.S. Treasury yields held steady following reports that bond investors have expressed concerns to the U.S. Treasury about Kevin Hassett potentially cutting interest rates aggressively.

Oil prices were marginally higher in Asian trading after Ukrainian attacks on Russia’s oil infrastructure signaled potential supply constraints.

U.S. stocks rose overnight as weak ADP jobs data reinforced views that the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates next week.

Payrolls processor ADP reported that private sector employment surprisingly declined by 32,000 in November after climbing by an upwardly revised 47,000 jobs in October. Economists had expected an increase of 10,000 jobs for the month.

Separate data revealed that U.S. services activity expanded at a slightly faster pace in November.

The Dow jumped 0.9 percent, the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite inched up 0.2 percent and the S&P 500 added 0.3 percent.

European stocks ended mixed on Wednesday as Eurozone manufacturing weakened in November and ECB officials reiterated a hawkish bias.

The pan European Stoxx 600 gained 0.1 percent. The German DAX and the U.K.’s FTSE 100 both edged down by 0.1 percent while France’s CAC 40 rose 0.2 percent.