BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty are set to open higher on Thursday, as sentiment improved on progress in debt ceiling negotiations in the US, while investors also braced for quarterly earnings from several top corporates.
India’s NSE stock futures listed on the Singapore exchange were up 0.18 per cent at 18,265, as of 7:44 am IST.
Wall Street equities closed higher overnight after US President Joe Biden and Republican Party’s House of Representatives speaker Kevin McCarthy vowed to avoid an economically catastrophic default. Asian markets also advanced.
The Nifty 50 extended losses for a second straight session on Wednesday, amid profit booking after the recent rise. The benchmark has gained 4.74 per cent in FY24 so far, aided by a stable earnings season and sustained foreign buying in domestic equities.
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“Heavy profit-booking persisted in recent sessions, casting a shadow over the market,” said Prashanth Tapse, senior vice president (research) at Mehta Equities.
Analysts expect the benchmark to find support at 18,050 and resistance at 18,350 levels.
Despite the slide on Wednesday, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) extended their buying streak for the fifteenth session, adding ₹149 crore worth of shares.
This is the longest daily buying streak since December 2020 by FIIs, who have bought nearly ₹22,600 crore worth of shares over the last 15 sessions, according to provisional data from the National Stock Exchange.
Investors also await quarterly results of companies including State Bank of India Ltd, ITC Ltd, GAIL (India) Ltd and Interglobe Aviation Ltd, scheduled for Thursday.
