Sensex set for gains as investor optimism returns
Indian shares are poised to open higher as investors continue to weigh moves by nations to ease at least some virus related lockdown measures and reopen economies.
This investor optimism should get further encouraged by reports that the Centre is working on a comprehensive fiscal stimulus for all sectors although the steadily increasing cases of COVID-19 might cap the gain.
Nifty futures on the Singapore Exchange traded 0.83 per cent higher at 9,272 as of 7:45 a.m.
Vista Equity Partners has said it will invest Rs 11,367 crore in Jio platforms for a 2.32 per cent stake at an equity value of Rs 4.91 lakh crore. In another news, Bloomberg News reports that Reliance Industries is also considering selling stake in Asian Paints valued at about $989 million in order to pare debt.
As many as 13 companies, including SBI Cards and Shree Cements, are scheduled to announce their March quarter results today. Private lender ICICI Bank, which is scheduled to announce the results tomorrow, will also be in focus.
Asian stocks are rising this morning with markets in Japan, Hong Kong, China, South Korea and Australia seeing gains of nearly 1 per cent. Futures on the Dow Jones are currently trading higher by 220 points while Futures on the S&P 500 added 1 per cent. The gauge rose 1.2 per cent on Thursday.
US stocks finished higher on Thursday as investors appeared more optimistic about an economic rebound.
Traders bought into risk on both the media reports that Washington and Beijing diplomats are planning to re-establish trade-talks beginning next week; along with news that the Saudis would be hiking its crude prices in order to help stabilise globe oil and financial markets.
The Dow Jones industrial average, S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite Index were all up 1 per cent.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 294.12 points, or 1.24 per cent, to 23,958.76, the S&P 500 gained 40.43 points, or 1.42 per cent, to 2,888.85 and the Nasdaq Composite added 132.69 points, or 1.5 per cent, to 8,987.08.
A clutch of upbeat earnings reports led by PayPal lifted the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq after the company said it expects a strong recovery in payments volumes in the second quarter as social distancing drives more people to shop online. Shares of PayPal Holdings jumped 13.9 per cent.
For the tech-heavy Nasdaq, Thursday’s close put it back in the green zone for the first time after being down nearly 20 per cent earlier in the year. Stocks in Apple, Facebook, Amazon and Google also surged on Thursday.
But the Dow and S&P 500 are still off more than 10 per cent so far this year. Friday will also see the US jobs report for April, expected to show a severe impact from the COVID-19 pandemic. The median projection in a Bloomberg survey of economists calls for a 21 million dip in payrolls.