Sensex, Nifty Seen Slightly Higher With Earnings In Focus

(RTTNews) - Indian shares may trade in a range on Thursday as investors await earnings results from prominent companies including Axis Bank, Infosys, Wipro, Nestle India, LTIMindtree and Tata Chemicals for direction.

Meanwhile, Reliance Industries has fixed the record date for a 1:1 bonus issue. Also, the Bloomberg News reported, citing people familiar with the matter that BlackRock, the world's biggest asset manager, is in talks with Jio Financial Services to set up a private credit venture.

Benchmark indexes Sensex and Nifty ended modestly lower on Wednesday while the rupee settled 4 paise higher at 84 against the dollar on easing crude oil prices.

Asian markets were mostly higher this morning ahead of a briefing by China's housing minister, the European Central Bank's interest-rate decision and the release of U.S. retail sales, jobless claims and industrial production figures.

The dollar hovered near an 11-week high, and gold traded higher near record levels while oil prices rose about 1 percent, following four days of declines on China demand concerns and worries over a global glut.

U.S. stocks closed higher overnight after upbeat earnings from Morgan Stanley and United Airlines.

The Dow climbed 0.8 percent to a new record closing high, while the S&P 500 added half a percent and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite edged up 0.3 percent.

European stocks fell broadly on Wednesday as tech and luxury stocks tumbled in the wake of disappointing results from industry heavyweights ASML and LVMH.

The pan European STOXX 600 eased 0.2 percent. The German DAX slipped 0.3 percent and France's CAC 40 dipped 0.4 percent while the U.K.'s FTSE 100 rallied 1 percent as weak inflation data fuelled rate-cut hopes.