Indian equities expected to be in range; Vodafone Idea, Bharti Airtel to be in focus

Mumbai: Indian stock markets may continue to be in a range on Friday even as global peers rose. Asian equities gained after S&P 500 index hit a new record closing high. However, investor sentiment remained fragile following weak data from China and Germany, which reinforced concerns of a slowing global economy.

Early in the Asian trading day, MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was up 0.34%. Japan’s Nikkei advanced 0.58% and Australian shares climbed up 0.53%.

On the currency front, the safe-haven yen weakened, with the dollar rising 0.11% to buy 108.50 yen. The euro was unchanged at $1.1021 and the dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of six major rivals was flat at 98.163.