Sensex, Nifty Likely To Open Lower

The domestic stock markets are likely to open in the red, going by early indications from SGX Nifty futures trading. Trends on SGX Nifty indicate a negative opening for the index in India, with a 60-points loss. At 7:30 am, the Nifty futures were trading at 14,563, lower by 60 points or 0.57 per cent, on the Singaporean Exchange.

Asian shares rose on Friday, brushing off a late Wall Street dip as expectations of large U.S. stimulus under President-elect Joe Biden shored up sentiment and oil prices perked up on upbeat Chinese trade figures.

In Asia, investors held a broadly more optimistic with Australia's S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.2 per cent, Japan's Nikkei 225 added 0.3 per cent and South Korea's KOSPI inched higher by 0.2 per cent.

Wall Street closed lower on Thursday after making a u-turn toward the end of the session as reports emerged about U.S. President-elect Joe Biden's pandemic aid proposal following earlier data that showed a weakening labor market.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished down 68.95 points, or 0.22 per cent at 30,991.52, while the Nasdaq Composite dropped 16.31 points, or 0.12 per cent, to 13,112.64.

Meanwhile, oil prices edged higher on Thursday, boosted by a weak dollar and bullish signals from Chinese import data but pressured by renewed worries about global oil demand due to surging coronavirus cases in Europe and new lockdowns in China.

Brent crude oil futures rose 36 cents, or 0.6 per cent, to settle at $56.42 a barrel. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) ended 66 cents, or 1.3 per cent, higher at $53.57.

On the earnings front, HCL Technologies, L&T Finance Holdings and PVR will announce their December Quarter earnings during the day.

On Thursday, the BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty indices ended mildly in the green as markets consolidated for the second consecutive session after touching life-time highs on Wednesday morning. The BSE Sensex recovered 400 points from intra-day lows to end the session at 49,584.16, higher by 91.84 points or 0.19 per cent, and the NSE Nifty ended at 14,595.60, up 30.75 points or 0.21 per cent.