Indian Indices:

Indian shares are set to open higher on Friday, following gains in other Asian markets and continued foreign investor buying. SGX Nifty is trading 21.00 points higher.

Banking stocks are also expected to gain after India’s central bank extends deadline on capital norms under Basel III to March 31, 2019

Indian shares rose to a record high for a fourth straight session on Thursday, as state-run lenders including State Bank of India extended their recent gains on broker upgrades and on hopes of some easing at the central bank’s policy review on Tuesday. The BSE Sensex gained 0.54% and NSE Nifty rose 0.61% each.

On Thursday (March 27, 2014) Sensex closed at 22214.37, up by 119.07 points, while the Nifty rose 40.35 points to close at 6641.75.

Global Market

Asian equity markets trims early losses to rise on the last trading day of the week as investors digested a mixed bag of economic data from Japan whilst shrugging off a weak US lead.

US stocks fell on Thursday, erasing most of the S&P 500’s year-to-date gain, as banking and technology stocks led the selloff

European equities edged higher on Thursday, lifted by a rise in telecoms equipment maker Alcatel and oil group Total which were both boosted by new Chinese deals.

Major Headlines of the day

Godrej Properties launches second project in Chennai.

Indian Hotels to raise Rs1,000 crore.

Fortis gets into aggresive expansion mode.