Sensex, Nifty Seen Little Changed At Open

(RTTNews) - Indian shares are seen opening little changed on Friday in the absence of directional cues from Wall Street.

FMCG stocks could be in focus following reports that the industry is on a path of gradual recovery due to a revival in rural demand and visible green shoots in volume and margin print.

The Q1 earnings season kicks off on July 11 with IT major Tata Consultancy Services announcing its results. HCL Technologies will unveil its quarterly earnings results on July 12.

Investors also await cues from the upcoming Union Budget, with growth initiatives expected to be a key theme of government policy.

Benchmark indexes Sensex and Nifty hit fresh record highs on Thursday before giving up much of the initial gains to end on a flat note. The rupee ended marginally higher at 83.495 against the dollar.

Foreign institutional investors (FII) bought shares worth Rs 2,575.85 crore on a net basis Thursday while domestic institutional investors (DII) offloaded shares to the extent of Rs 2,375.18 crore, according to provisional data available on the NSE.

Asian markets traded mixed this morning, with Shanghai stocks underperforming ahead of key political meetings and economic data releases.

The dollar index drifted lower in Asian trade, gold edged up slightly and oil prices were little changed ahead of the release of U.S. jobs data later in the day.

The report may shed light on how much the economy has slowed in 2024.

The British pound held steady as Keir Starmer's Labour Party headed for a landslide victory in the U.K. general elections.

Elsewhere, French far-right leader Marine Le Pen insisted her party can still win control of parliament despite the centre and left scrambling to block her way. U.S. markets were closed Thursday for Independence Day holiday.

European stocks closed higher on Thursday as U.K. elections began, and polls showed Marine Le Pen's National Rally and its allies would fall well short of an absolute majority in Sunday's French parliamentary election.

The pan European STOXX 600 gained 0.6 percent. The German DAX edged up 0.4 percent, France's CAC 40 jumped 0.8 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 climbed 0.9 percent.