India’s equity benchmarks are likely to open higher on Friday, after two consecutive sessions of declines, though sentiment is expected to stay subdued on worries over U.S. tariffs.
Gift Nifty futures were trading at 24,666.5 points as of 07:47 a.m. IST, indicating that the Nifty 50 above Thursday’s close of 24,500.9.
The Nifty 50 and Sensex have dropped about 2% each in the last two sessions, pressured by mounting concerns about the impact of U.S. tariffs on Indian goods.
U.S. President Donald Trump imposed an additional 25% tariff on Indian goods over its purchase of Russian oil, adding to the earlier 25% duty.
Still, India’s Russian oil imports are set to rise in September, dealers said, in defiance of U.S. punitive measures.
For the month, Sensex is down 1.4%, while Nifty is down 1.1% as foreign investors offloaded $3.3 billion worth of Indian shares in August, the highest for a month since February.
The domestic economic growth data is due after market hours. India’s economy likely slowed in the April-June quarter as weak urban demand and slow private investment weighed on growth, a Reuters poll of economists showed.
The market is also awaiting next week’s meeting of the Goods and Services Tax council, which will discuss sweeping cuts to boost the economy in the face of a trade conflict with the U.S.
Among individual stocks, oil-to-telecom conglomerate Reliance Industries will be in focus ahead of its annual general meeting of shareholders.
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