Nifty set to open higher after earnings-led rebound as Brent crude rises 2.2%
Indian equities are set for a marginally higher open on Friday, with GIFT Nifty futures at 22,981 pointing to a positive start for the Nifty 50, which closed at 22,936.75 a day earlier. Both the Nifty and the BSE Sensex rose more than 1% on Thursday, helped by strong quarterly results from key index constituents and by the US Federal Reserve holding interest rates steady as expected.
The benchmarks are up about 1.4% and 2.3% respectively in October, on course to snap a two-month selling streak. Analysts at Geojit Investments and Equinomics Research attributed some of the support to expectations of a potential review of long-term capital gains tax and to steady corporate earnings despite global headwinds.
Hitesh Tailor, technical research analyst at Choice Broking, said the overall market bias had improved to cautiously positive, supported by the breakout from recent consolidation and broad-based sector buying, though elevated crude prices remained an important risk. Brent crude futures rose 2.2% to $117.4 a barrel after Yemen's Houthis said they attacked Saudi Arabia's Ras Tanura oil refinery and airports in the country, overshadowing hopes for peace talks between the US and Iran.
Other Asian markets fell. Japan's Nikkei 225 lost about 3% ahead of the Bank of Japan's rate decision, and South Korea's Kospi shed about 5% after Wall Street dipped overnight on AI jitters, with the Nasdaq down more than 1% as Alphabet disclosed a hefty AI-related cash burn in its quarterly earnings.
Foreign portfolio investors turned net sellers of Indian equities on Thursday after two sessions of buying, with outflows of 9.44 billion rupees ($99.17 million), while domestic institutional investors bought shares worth 19.24 billion rupees, according to provisional NSE data. Investors now await earnings from index constituents including Reliance Industries, Sun Pharma and Bharat Electronics later in the day.
