Sensex, Nifty Set To Open Higher; Axis Bank, Britannia In Focus

The Indian equity benchmarks are set to open higher as indicated by the Nifty futures traded on the Singapore Exchange. SGX Nifty also known as Singapore Nifty futures rose 0.2 per cent or 30 points to 14,690, indicating Nifty to open close to 14,700 mark. Meanwhile, other Asian markets were trading on a mixed note as already high valuations discouraged investors from buying equities ahead of a closely-watched U.S. Federal Reserve meeting.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan declined 0.23 per cent. Australian stocks rose 0.55 per cent, but shares in China slipped 0.44 per cent. Stocks in Tokyo edged 0.16 per cent higher.

Overnight, - Shares eased from record peaks on Tuesday as optimism about a global economic recovery was dented by caution before a policy decision by the Federal Reserve and earnings updates from a number of blue-chip companies.

MSCI's gauge of stocks across the globe shed 0.20 per cent.

The world index has risen 9 per cent so far this year, underpinned by expectations that rising COVID-19 vaccination rates will allow more economies to recover and give a big boost to company profits.

Earnings in Europe are expected to have risen 61 per cent in the first quarter, while U.S. profits are seen up more than 31 per cent, according to the latest Refinitiv IBES estimates.

Back home, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) sold shares worth Rs 1,455 crore while domestic institutional investors bought shares worth Rs 1,463 crore, according to data on the National Stock Exchange.

Axis Bank will be in focus after it posted net profit of Rs 2,677 crore for the quarter ended March 2021 on the back of a steep fall in bad loan provisions. It had reported a loss of Rs 1,387.8 crore during the corresponding period. Its net interest income grew by 11 per cent to Rs 7,555 crore in the fourth quarter compared to Rs 6,807.7 crore during the corresponding period.

Britannia Industries' net profit in the March quarter fell 3.3 per cent to Rs 360.1 crore from Rs 372.3 crore, while revenues rose 9.2 per cent to Rs 3,130.7 crore from Rs 2,867.7 crore, YoY.