Indian shares are anticipated to open slightly higher on Wednesday, extending a three-session winning streak, while focus will remain on the domestic central bank's interest rate decision later in the week.
The Gift Nifty futures were trading at 24,539.5 as of 08:24 a.m. IST, indicating that the benchmark Nifty 50 will open above its Tuesday's close at 24,457.15.
Both the Nifty and BSE Sensex rose about 0.75% in the last session and are now standing roughly 7% below their all-time highs in late September.
The two benchmarks slipped into correction territory in the first half of November, before rebounding due to cheaper valuations.
Asian markets opened lower after South Korea imposed martial law and lifted it hours later. Overnight, most Wall Street equities finished higher, with S&P 500 and Nasdaq closing at record highs. [MKTS/GLOB]
Domestic equities will likely see incremental gains in the next two sessions ahead of the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) monetary policy decision on Friday, two traders said.
The RBI is expected to hold rates steady due to high inflation, but its commentary will likely be pivotal for markets following a sharp economic slowdown in the September quarter.
Foreign institutional investors turned net buyers of Indian equities on Tuesday after three sessions of selling, while domestic institutional investors sold Indian shares after buying for four straight sessions.
STOCKS TO WATCH
** India's clean energy agency withdraws ban on Reliance Power from participating in all future tenders for three years.
** Rail Vikas Nigam receives an order worth 1.87 billion rupees ($22 million) from East Central Railway.
** Defence companies, such as Hindustan Aeronautics, Bharat Electronics and Bharat Dynamics, could rise after the country's defence acquisition council approves five capital acquisition proposals worth 217.72 billion rupees to augment defence preparedness.
($1 = 84.6700 Indian rupees)