(Reuters) - Indian shares are set to open lower on Friday, on recession fears in the U.S. and hawkish commentary by major central banks, following their U.S. counterpart.
India's NSE stock futures listed on the Singapore exchange were down 0.34% at 18,397.50, as of 7:30 a.m. IST.
U.S. retail sales in November fell more than expected, suggesting higher borrowing costs and fears of an imminent recession are hurting household spending in the world's largest economy.
Wall Street shares fell sharply overnight, with Dow Jones, S&P 500 losing over 2% and tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite shedding more than 3%.
Following the U.S. Federal Reserve, both the Bank of England and European Central Bank raised rates by half a percentage point each and delivered hawkish commentary, hinting at a prolonged rate-hike cycle.
Asian markets opened lower, with the MSCI Asia ex Japan falling over 0.8%.
Adding to the woes of Indian markets could be the crude prices, which looked poised to end the week higher after projections of a demand revival.[O/R]
The rise in oil prices is a negative for oil-importing countries like India, where crude constitutes the bulk of the import bill.
Foreign institutional investors sold 7.11 billion rupees ($85.81 million) worth of equities on a net basis on Thursday, while domestic investors bought 2.61 billion rupees of shares, as per provisional NSE data.
Stocks To Watch:
** Reliance Industries: Co's unit Reliance Digital Health to acquire 2.25% stake in New York-based Synchron.
** Wipro: Co selected by Mazda Europe for application transformation in a five-year, multi-million dollar deal. Co also signed a multi-year digital deal with fintech player Finastra in the Middle East.
** Hindustan Petroleum Corporation: Co approves proposal to borrow up to 100 billion rupees in a private placement.
** Deepak Fertilisers: Co announces demerger of its mining chemicals and fertilisers businesses.