Indian Shares Seen Tad Higher At Open

(RTTNews) - Indian shares are seen opening higher in cautious trade on Friday as investors react to mixed global cues and seek direction on the Federal Reserve's rate path ahead of the Fed chairman's Jackson Hole speech.

Benchmark indexes Sensex and Nifty fell 0.7 percent and half a percent, respectively on Thursday to extend losses for a second consecutive session while the rupee gave up early gains to settle 11 paise lower at 95.55 against the U.S. dollar.

Foreign institutional investors net sold shares worth Rs 298.26 crore on Thursday, while domestic institutional investors net bought shares to the extent of Rs 4,977.17 crore, according to provisional exchange data.

Asian markets were mixed this morning while the U.S. dollar index and U.S. Treasury yields eased ahead of Warsh's speech later in the day.

Gold dipped half a percent to $4,577 an ounce but was on course for its strongest monthly advance since 1999.

Brent crude futures fell slightly to $88.35 a barrel and were on track to snap a two-week winning streak amid improving supply prospects through the Strait of Hormuz.

U.S. stocks closed higher overnight as upbeat earnings and guidance from Nvidia helped ease fears about the sustainability of the artificial-intelligence boom.

CrowdStrike's upbeat outlook and Salesforce's announcement of a deal with Anthropic to offer its services through Claude also fueled gains in technology and semiconductor shares.

However, buying interest waned later in the session as Brent crude prices surged more than $2 per barrel after the White House confirmed it was not in talks with Iran despite diplomatic efforts by other countries.

In economic releases, jobless claims slid again last week, while wholesale inventories jumped far above forecasts in July and the merchandise-trade deficit widened in July to the largest since early last year, a slew of reports showed.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite surged 1.6 percent, the S&P 500 advanced 0.7 percent and the Dow added 0.2 percent.

European stocks closed lower on Thursday, with concerns about political instability in France and hawkish signals from ECB policymakers weighing on sentiment.

The pan-European STOXX 600 fell 0.7 percent. France's CAC 40 tumbled 1.7 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 shed 0.8 percent while the German DAX rose 0.3 percent on signs of improving consumer sentiment.