Sensex, Nifty Likely To Open On Flat Note

(RTTNews) - Indian shares are likely to open on a flat note on Friday, with falling oil prices likely to help limit the overall downside, if any.

Reliance Industries could be in focus after Reliance Brands, a subsidiary of Reliance Retail Ventures, forayed into food & beverage (F&B) retailing with a strategic partnership with U.K.-based fresh food and organic coffee chain Pret A Manger.

Benchmark indexes Sensex and the Nifty ended a choppy session marginally lower on Thursday amid the weekly and monthly F&O expiry. The rupee ended at 78.97 per dollar, unchanged from the previous close.

Asian markets traded mixed this morning and the dollar headed for a weekly gain on recession fears, while oil edged up but headed for a third weekly drop, its longest losing run this year, on concerns that a potential recession will cut into energy demand.

U.S. stocks fell overnight to wrap up a grueling second quarter after data showed U.S. household spending slowed in May amid historically high inflation and elevated interest rates.

The S&P 500 dropped 0.9 percent, bringing its losses for the first half of the year to 21 percent. The Dow dipped 0.8 percent and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite fell 1.3 percent.

European stocks slumped on Thursday, suffering their worst quarter since the pandemic-led carnage in early 2020 amid worries about prolonged inflation leading to a global economic downturn.

The pan European Stoxx 600 tumbled 1.5 percent. The German DAX fell 1.7 percent, France's CAC 40 index gave up 1.8 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 declined 2 percent.