MUMBAI : The market has opened higher supported by firm global cues. The Sensex is up 60.51 points or 0.2 percent at 27976.40, and the Nifty up 16.85 points or 0.2 percent at 8582.70. About 308 shares have advanced, 98 shares declined, and 34 shares are unchanged.Cipla, ITC, Bajaj Auto, Hero MotoCorp and ONGC are gainers while Dr Reddy’s Labs, Infosys, TCS, BHEL and M&M are losers in the Sensex.

The Indian rupee opened lower at 67.22 per dollar on Thursday versus previous closing 67.20. Dollar index at a four-month high against a basket of currencies helped by strong US data and growing expectations that the Fed may raise rates before the end of the year.

Mohan Shenoi of Kotak Mahindra Bank said, “The dollar has strengthened across the board due to improved US labour data with US unemployment rate falling below 5 percent. ECB rate setting meeting later today will be the main focus.”

L&T Infotech will make its stock market debut today. The issue raised Rs 1243 crore in a price band of Rs 705 to 710 per share.

ITC is likely to report net profit at Rs 2490.4 crore in April-June quarter, up 10 percent from Rs 2265.4 crore in corresponding quarter last fiscal. According to CNBC-TV18 poll, the FMCG major may see a growth of 9.8 percent in its Q1 total income at Rs 9425.3 crore against Rs 8587.7 crore in year-ago period. Analysts polled by CNBC-TV18 feel EBITDA may rise 8.2 percent at Rs 3663.4 crore in Q1 compared to Rs 3385.9 crore while margins may slip 50 basis points (bps) at 38.9 percent versus 39.4 percent year-on-year.

According to Prabhudas Lilladher, ITC’s cigarette volume may see growth of 2-4 percent in Q1. It had taken a weighted average price hike of 5-6 percent in cigarettes this quarter. Cigarette volumes may be impacted by shut down of factories. ITC had shut factories for 15 days in April / May over non-clarity on pictorial warnings. Brokerages estimate it may hurt volume growth by 100 basis points (bps).

ITC is likely to report net profit at Rs 2490.4 crore in April-June quarter, up 10 percent from Rs 2265.4 crore in corresponding quarter last fiscal. According to CNBC-TV18 poll, the FMCG major may see a growth of 9.8 percent in its Q1 total income at Rs 9425.3 crore against Rs 8587.7 crore in year-ago period. Analysts polled by CNBC-TV18 feel EBITDA may rise 8.2 percent at Rs 3663.4 crore in Q1 compared to Rs 3385.9 crore while margins may slip 50 basis points (bps) at 38.9 percent versus 39.4 percent year-on-year. According to Prabhudas Lilladher, ITC’s cigarette volume may see growth of 2-4 percent in Q1. It had taken a weighted average price hike of 5-6 percent in cigarettes this quarter. Cigarette volumes may be impacted by shut down of factories. ITC had shut factories for 15 days in April / May over non-clarity on pictorial warnings. Brokerages estimate it may hurt volume growth by 100 basis points (bps).

Asia markets mostly climbed at open, with Japanese shares leading regional peers as local media reports suggested a sizable stimulus package from the Abe government was forthcoming. In Japan, the benchmark Nikkei 225 rallied 1.18 percent, with stocks receiving a boost from a relatively weaker yen.

Positive earnings surprises drove US markets to a fresh record. Wall Street gained on Wednesday and the S&P 500 and Dow industrials set fresh records, as Microsoft’s strong results boosted the indexes and marked the latest sign that US corporate earnings season may be less dour than feared.

Microsoft shares surged 5.3 percent after the software giant posted sharp growth in its cloud computing business.

Among other asset classes, dollar index is at a four-month high against a basket of currencies helped by strong US data and growing expectations that the Fed may raise rates before the end of the year.

Crude prices gain after the US government reported a ninth straight week of crude inventory draws, easing some concerns in a market worried about a glut. Gold falls to its lowest in three weeks on higher equities and as the dollar hit a four-month high.