Sensex, Nifty Seen Opening Up As Oil Extends Slide

(RTTNews) - Indian shares may open on a positive note Thursday as oil prices continued to fall on demand concerns and minutes from the most recent Federal Reserve meeting hinted at potential rate cuts amid signs of easing inflation and a rising unemployment rate.

Financial markets anticipate significant policy easing, potentially including multiple cuts by year-end.

Benchmark indexes Sensex and Nifty ended a choppy session slightly higher on Wednesday, while the rupee plunged 14 paise to close at 83.91 against the dollar amid unabated outflow of foreign capital.

Asian markets traded mixed this morning as traders braced for Fed Chair Jerome Powell's upcoming keynote speech at the Kansas City Fed's Jackson Hole economic symposium on Friday.

Experts anticipate Powell will hint at a 25-bps rate cut in September, but caution that decisions will remain data-dependent.

Treasury yields dipped and the dollar was pinned to one-year lows on sterling and the euro as investors fretted about a U.S. slowdown.

Gold held above $2,500 per ounce on rate-cut bets, while oil extended losses and held near the lowest close since January on demand concerns.

U.S. stocks eked out modest gains overnight as the July FOMC minutes reinforced hopes of a 25-bps rata cut during the September meeting if data continued to come in as expected.

Investors shrugged off revised data showing that U.S. job growth over the past year was notably weaker than previously reported.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite climbed 0.6 percent, the S&P 500 added 0.4 percent and the Dow edged up 0.1 percent.

European stocks closed broadly higher on Wednesday, thanks largely to gains in the mining sector.

The pan European STOXX 600 gained 0.3 percent. The German DAX and France's CAC 40 both rose by half a percent while the U.K.'s FTSE 100 inched up 0.1 percent.