Sensex, Nifty Seen Lower With Middle East Tensions And Earnings In Focus

(RTTNews) - Indian shares are seen opening marginally lower on Friday as investors react to muted global cues, heightened tensions in the Middle East and earnings results from prominent companies including Infosys, Wipro and Axis Bank.

Hezbollah has declared a new phase against Israel following the killing of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar.

The killing of Sinwar by Israeli soldiers led U.S. President Joe Biden to renew calls for a cease-fire in Gaza, but Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said operations are "yet to be completed."

Benchmark indexes Sensex and Nifty fell notably on Thursday to extend losses for a third day running amid the expiry of Nifty50 contracts.

The rupee traded in a narrow range before ending down 5 paise at 84.07 against the dollar.

Asian stocks were muted this morning ahead of a barrage of top-tier Chinese economic data due later in the day.

The dollar remained buoyant, and gold reached a fresh record high above $2,700 per ounce, while oil prices edged up slightly after a U.S. crude stockpile draw. U.S. stocks ended mixed overnight as TSMC handily beat estimates for Q3 and investors trimmed their bets on Federal Reserve interest-rate cuts this year.

U.S. retail sales increased slightly more than expected in September and jobless claims fell unexpectedly last week while industrial production decreased in September, reversing output growth in August, separate set of data showed.

The Dow rose 0.4 percent to its fourth record close in the last five sessions and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite finished marginally higher while the S&P 500 ended flat with a negative bias.

European stocks closed higher on Thursday as investors cheered upbeat corporate earnings and the ECB's interest-rate cut for the third time this year, citing slowing inflation in the region and sluggish economic growth.

ECB President Christine Lagarde refused to pre-commit an easing in December, instead stressed on the data-dependency approach.

The pan-European STOXX 600 advanced 0.8 percent. The German DAX climbed 0.8 percent, France's CAC 40 rallied 1.2 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 added 0.7 percent.