At8:33 am, SGX Nifty futures traded 12.45 points, or 0.09%, higher at13,534.20.
Domestic stock markets are likely to start the last session of the week on a positive note, a day after the S&P BSE Sensex index halted a five-day rally that pushed it past the 46,000 mark for the first time ever. The Singapore Exchange (SGX) Nifty futures — an early indicator of the National Stock Exchange's Nifty 50 benchmark — rose 35.75 points, or 0.26 per cent, to touch 13,571.50 at the strongest level recorded ahead of the opening of Indian markets. The markets have been riding on hopes of a fast recovery from the coronavirus-caused slowdown and also on foreign fund inflows.
At 8:33 am, the SGX Nifty futures traded 12.45 points, or 0.09 per cent, higher at 13,534.20.
Analysts awaited macroeconomic data for near-term cues. Data on factory activity will be released after market hours on Friday, and that on consumer inflation on Monday.
Retail inflation probably fell to 7.10 per cent in November from 7.61 per cent in the previous month, but remained above the Reserve Bank of India's target amid high food and petrol prices, according to a poll of economists by news agency Reuters.
Asian markets moved lower as concerns about US stimulus and climbing COVID-19 cases weighed globally on optimism. MSCI's broadest index of Asia Pacific shares outside Japan was down 0.26 per cent at the last count. Japan's Nikkei 225 benchmark traded 0.54 per cent lower.
Overnight in the US, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.23 per cent and the S&P 500 lost 0.13 per cent, but the technology stocks-heavy Nasdaq Composite added 0.54 per cent.
US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said negotiations over a new COVID-19 relief package were making "a lot of progress," although lawmakers in both parties said action could take longer than originally hoped as sticking points remained and Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's staff were skeptical compromises could be made.
Attention on the stimulus package grew sharper after new data showed the number of Americans filing first-time claims for jobless benefits jumped to a near three-month high, as spiking COVID-19 cases weighed on economic activity.
In Britain, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said there was a "strong possibility" the nation could split from the European Union with a trade agreement.
Oil prices climbed nearly 3 per cent, with Brent hitting levels not seen since early March, on hopes of a speedier recovery thanks to COVID-19 vaccines. Brent crude rose 2.8 per cent.
