Indian shares are likely to open
marginally higher on Friday, aided by a pullback in crude oil
prices, although persistent geopolitical risks in West Asia
and heavy demand for domestic initial public offerings may
cap the upside.
Tata group stocks will also be in focus after Tata
Sons reappointed N. Chandrasekaran as chairman and said it would
consider a public listing, while shareholder Shapoorji Pallonji
Group has proposed selling part of its stake.
GIFT futures were trading around 23,329.5
points, as of 8:30 a.m. IST, indicating a positive start for the
benchmark Nifty 50 index, which closed at 23,270.60 on
Thursday.
Brent crude was down 0.8% at $104 a barrel as hopes
that alternative routes could keep West Asia barrels
flowing to global markets outweighed concerns over renewed
strikes involving Saudi Arabia and Yemen’s Houthi forces.
Still, Brent remained elevated above $100 a barrel, fuelling
inflation concerns for major oil importers such as India.
Higher energy costs could weigh on corporate margins, worsen
the current-account outlook and complicate the Reserve Bank of
India’s inflation management.
Five Indian are currently open for subscription,
including the , which
was subscribed 0.43 times on the first day of bidding.
Traders said the rush of new offerings could divert
liquidity away from secondary-market stocks and keep broader
market gains contained.
The Nifty and are down 0.5% and 0.6%,
respectively, so far this week, on course for a sixth
consecutive weekly decline.
Separately, foreign institutional investors have been net
sellers for seven straight sessions, with outflows of ₹3,209
crore on Thursday. Domestic institutional investors
countered the selling, buying shares worth ₹3,618 crore,
according to provisional NSE data.
** Bharat Electronics says it has received orders
worth ₹648 crore since August 26
** PTC India and NLC India Renewables incorporate
joint venture Nirl PTC Renewables, with PTC holding a 25% stake
in the JV
** GPT Infraprojects secures order valued at ₹484
crore
** Markets regulator bars telecom infrastructure firm Kore
Digital from raising money from the public and blocked
its migration to the main stock exchange board, alleging
financial irregularities