Sensex, Nifty Likely To Open Higher Tracking Global Markets

Domestic stock markets are likely to start Friday's session on a positive note tracking gains in global peers, as the country remains in the third phase of a nationwide lockdown with few exceptions to curb the spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. The Singapore Exchange (SGX) Nifty futures - an early indicator of the National Stock Exchange (NSE)'s Nifty 50 benchmark index - climbed up as much as 123.25 points to touch 9,327.50 ahead of the opening of Indian markets. At 8:24 am, the SGX Nifty futures were up 93.00 points - or 1.01 per cent - at 9,297.25.

Equities in other Asian markets tracked overnight gains in Wall Street, with MSCI's broadest index of Asia Pacific shares outside Japan last seen trading 1.00 per cent higher while Japan's Nikkei 225 benchmark was up 1.78 per cent. 

China's Shanghai Composite, Hong Kong's Hang Seng and South Korea's KOSPI indices were up 0.59 per cent, 0.99 per cent and 1.32 per cent respectively.

E-mini futures for the S&P 500 rose 0.3 per cent. Japan's Nikkei 225 futures added 0.7 per cent. Australian S&P/ASX 200 futures rose 0.1 per cent in early trading.

Wall Street's indexes climbed on Thursday, with the Nasdaq erasing losses for 2020, following a clutch of upbeat earnings reports led by PayPal as investors looked past more weak jobs data caused by the coronavirus-induced economic downturn.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.8 per cent, S&P 500 gained 1.15 per cent and Nasdaq Composite added 1.4 per cent.

Meanwhile, U.S. crude lost 44 cents, or 1.8 per cent to $23.55 on Thursday. Brent had been up over 5 per cent and U.S. crude up over 10 per cent earlier in the day, cheered by a surprise increase in China exports and a rise in Saudi Arabia's official price for crude.

On the stock-specific front, Reliance Industries is likely to be in the limelight on the news that US-based Vista Equity Partners will invest Rs 11,367 crore in Jio Platforms, in what is the third high profile-investment in Reliance Jio in the past one month after the stake purchase by Facebook and Silver Lake. The Reliance Jio-Vista Equity Partners deal will value Jio Platforms, which houses Reliance Industries's telecoms arm Reliance Jio Infocomm, at an equity value of Rs 4.91 lakh crore and an enterprise value of Rs 5.16 lakh crore. The stock is just 7 per cent away from its 52-week high of Rs 1,617 on the BSE. 

HCL Tech is also likely to be in focus after the company, post market hours on Thursday, reported a 4 per cent rise in March quarter net profit to Rs 3,154 crore. In a regulatory filing, HCL Tech also said its revenue from operations came in at Rs 18,590 crore in the January-March period, up 2.5 per cent compared to the previous quarter. 

On Thursday, the S&P BSE Sensex index had ended 242.37 points - or 0.76 per cent - lower at 31,443.38 and the broader NSE Nifty 50 benchmark settled at 9,199.05, down 71.85 points (0.78 per cent) from the previous close.