India's stock benchmarks set to open higher on easing oil woes, S&P upgrade boost
Gift Nifty futures were trading at 24,922 as of 7:48 a.m. IST, indicating that the Nifty 50 (.NSEI), opens new tab will open about 1.2% above Thursday's close of 24,631.3. Indian markets were closed on Friday for a holiday.
Following his meeting with Russia's Vladimir Putin in Alaska on Friday, U.S. President Donald Trump appeared more aligned with Moscow on seeking a Ukraine peace deal instead of a ceasefire first.
Trump will meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and European leaders on Monday to hammer out details of possible security guarantees for Kyiv, though actual proposals are vague as yet.
Oil prices slipped after the U.S. refrained from imposing new measures to curb Russian oil exports, following Trump-Putin's Friday meeting.
Meanwhile, Trump said on Friday he did not need to consider retaliatory tariffs yet on countries buying Russian oil, such as China, but might "in two or three weeks", easing fears of supply disruption.
China, the world's biggest oil importer, is the largest buyer of Russian oil, followed by India. A fall in prices is positive for importers of the commodity, such as India.
Alongside easing worries over Russian oil imports, S&P Global's ratings upgrade, reiterating India's macro stability, also boosted sentiment, analysts said.
Foreign portfolio investors (FPI) offloaded Indian stocks worth 19.27 billion rupees ($220.2 million) on Thursday, while domestic institutional investors (DII) purchased stocks worth 38.96 billion rupees, taking their buying streak to 29 sessions.
** Glenmark Pharma's (GLEN.NS), opens new tab June-quarter profit drops on North America, European pricing woes.
** S&P Global Ratings upgrades, opens new tab State Bank of India's (SBI.NS), opens new tab issuer credit rating to "BBB/Stable/A-2" from "BBB/Positive/A-3".
** Vodafone Idea (VODA.NS), opens new tab posts smaller-than-expected loss in June quarter.
** Patanjali Foods (PAFO.NS), opens new tab reports a drop in first-quarter profit.
($1 = 87.4970 Indian rupees)
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