(Reuters) – Indian shares are set to open marginally higher on Friday, with analysts expecting the benchmarks to witness incremental moves in the absence of major triggers as the year comes to an end.
The GIFT Nifty futures were trading at 23,930.5 as of 7:47 a.m. IST, indicating that the benchmark Nifty 50 would open above Thursday’s close of 23,750.2.
“With no major triggers in the near term, markets are likely to trade near current levels while investors await December quarter earnings season, which will be the next significant factor shaping the market’s trajectory,” said Siddhartha Khemka, head of research of wealth management at Motilal Oswal Financial Services.
Persistent foreign selling, rising U.S. bond yields and a stronger U.S. dollar continue to dampen investor sentiment, Khemka said.
Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) sold Indian shares for the eighth session in a row on Thursday, offloading stocks worth 23.77 billion rupees ($278.83 million) on a net basis.
Domestic equities are taking a breather after last week’s decline, with the benchmark Nifty 50 hovering around the support zone of its 200-day moving average, according to analysts.
India’s Nifty has risen about 0.7% this week so far, after dropping about 5% last week, its worst since June 2022.
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($1 = 85.2490 Indian rupees)
(Reporting by Bharath Rajeswaran in Bengaluru; Editing by Abinaya Vijayaraghavan)
