Stock Markets Likely To Open Higher

Domestic stock markets are set to start Thursday's session on a higher note, as indicated by the Nifty futures traded on Singapore Exchange. The SGX Nifty futures - an early indicator of the NSE Nifty in India - were last seen trading 42.50 points - or 0.37 per cent - higher at 11,537.00 ahead of the opening of capital markets in India. On Wednesday, the Sensex and Nifty indexes ended 0.45 per cent and 0.49 per cent lower respectively. Analysts will closely watch corporate earnings by large cap companies and macroeconomic data due this week for market cues. 

Equities in other Asian markets rose and the dollar sagged on Thursday after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell reinforced prospects of a US interest rate cut later this month. In an appearance before his congressional overseers on Wednesday, Mr Powell confirmed that the US economy is still under threat from disappointing factory activity, tame inflation and a simmering trade war, and that the central bank stands ready to "act as appropriate".

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 0.2 per cent, while Japan's Nikkei added 0.15 per cent. South Korea's KOSPI climbed 0.7 per cent. Australian stocks were steady.

Overnight on Wall Street, US stocks ended higher and the S&P 500 briefly crossed the 3,000-point mark for the first time following Mr Powell's remarks.

A strong June US jobs report released earlier this month had curbed market expectations that the Fed could lower rates by 50 basis points (bps), and the markets had viewed a 25 bps cut as a more likely option. But the Fed chair's cautious stance on the world's largest economy helped revive views of a chance of heftier easing at the next Fed policy meeting on July 30-31.

The Sensex had shed 1,351.02 points - or 3.39 per cent - and the Nifty declined 447.85 points - or 3.75 per cent - in the past four days. During this period, the Sensex finished lower on three out of four occasions while the broader Nifty index closed lower on all days.

(With inputs from Reuters)