Nifty Seen Opening Below 15,850; TCS In Focus Ahead Of Q1 Earnings

The Indian equity benchmarks were seen opening lower on Thursday ahead of weekly expiry of index future and option contracts as indicated by the Nifty futures on Singapore Exchange. The Nifty futures on Singapore Exchange also known as SGX Nifty futures fell 56 points or 0.35 per cent to 15,832. Meanwhile, cues from other Asian markets were also negative as Japan's Nikkei fell 0.55 per cent, Straits Times declined 0.37 per cent and Hong Kong's Hang Seng fell 1.54 per cent after minutes of the Federal Reserve's June policy meeting confirmed the world's biggest central bank is moving toward tapering its asset purchases as soon as this year.

Overnight, US stock prices bounced off session lows to post slight gains for the day, with the S&P 500 and tech-laden Nasdaq closing at record highs.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 104.42 points, or 0.3 per cent, to 34,681.79. The broad S&P 500 gained 14.59 points, or 0.34 per cent, to 4,358.13.

The Nasdaq Composite added 1.42 points, or 0.01 per cent, to 14,665.06.

Back home, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) bought shares worth Rs 533 crore while domestic institutional investors sold shares worth Rs 232 crore.

Tata Consultancy Services will be in focus as it will report its June quarter earnings later in the day. Recently listed Shyam Metalics will also report its June quarter earnings.

Banking shares will be in focus after the Reserve Bank of India imposed monetary penalties - ranging between Rs 50 lakh to Rs 2 crore, on 14 banks including the State Bank of India (SBI), Punjab and Sind Bank, and Bandhan Bank, among others, for contravention of various regulatory norms.