The Nifty futures were trading at 9,346 on the Singapore Exchange around 7:30 am
The benchmark indices are likely to have a gap-up opening, post the gains witnessed on Friday, due to positive cues from the global markets. Trends on SGX Nifty indicate a positive opening for the index back home, with a 90 points gain. The Nifty futures were trading at 9,346 on the Singapore Exchange around 7:30 am. And Asian shares followed Wall Street higher on Monday as investors looked ahead to more countries restarting their economies, even as some reported an unwelcome pick up in new coronavirus cases.
Japan's Nikkei added 0.7 per cent and South Korean stocks added 0.3 per cent. E-Mini futures for the S&P 500 opened soft but bounced as the morning wore on and was last up 0.3 per cent.
Major US stock indexes jumped on Friday and logged solid gains for the week after data on historic job losses due to the coronavirus crisis showed they were slightly fewer than feared. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.91 per cent, S&P 500 gained 1.69 per cent and Nasdaq Composite added 1.58 per cent.
Meanwhile, oil prices opened about 1 per cent lower as a persistent glut weighed on prices and the coronavirus pandemic eroded global oil demand, even as some governments began to ease lockdowns. Brent crude futures lost 54 cents to $30.43 a barrel, while U.S. crude fell 53 cents to $24.21.
On the stock-specific front, ICICI Bank is likely to be in the limelight post its Q4 numbers declared on Saturday. The bank reported a 26 per cent year-on-year growth in standalone profit at Rs 1,221.36 crore in quarter ended March 2020. That marked an increase of 26.04 per cent compared to its net profit of Rs 969.06 crore in the corresponding period a year ago.
Reliance Industries may also see some action after the company, on Saturday, fixed May 14 as the record date for its Rs 53,125-crore rights issue.
The S&P BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty 50 indexes had ended higher on Friday. The Sensex ended 0.63 per cent or 199 points higher at 31,643 and the Nifty rose 0.57 per cent or 52 points higher at 9,251.50.
