The Indian equity benchmarks are set to open lower on Friday as indicated by Nifty Futures on Singapore Exchange. The SGX Nifty futures fell 61 points or 0.4 per cent to 14,885. Meanwhile, most of the Asian markets were also trading with a negative bias as Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index fell 0.9 per cent, Taiwan Weighted index declined 0.3 per cent, Shanghai Composite index tumbled 1.2 per cent South Korea’s KOSPI dropped 0.3 per cent.
Overnight, a tech-led rally pushed Wall Street higher on Thursday and Treasury yields extended their pull-back from recent peaks as market participants digested the U.S. Federal Reserve’s pledge to stay the course with its dovish monetary policy.
The Nasdaq was sharply higher while the S&P 500, while up more modestly, was on track to notch another record high. But the blue-chip Dow was in the red, though only slightly, weighed down by financials and industrials.
European stocks touched all-time highs on growing optimism about a global stimulus-driven economic revival and reassurances from the Fed. Emerging market stocks and equities in Asia, aside from Japan, also rose.
Back home, in yesterday’s session, the markets registered gains for third session in a row led by a rally in metal stocks which have been on a northward journey since quite some time after Chinar became net importer or base metals like steel, copper, magnesium etc.
Among the individual shares, A2Z Infra Engineering will be in focus after ace investor Shankar Sharma sold over 12 lakh shares in the company, according to information on exchanges.