Sensex, Nifty likely to start day stronger: 10 things to know before opening bell

Indian equity benchmarks Nifty and Sensex are likely to start Friday's session on a positive note, tracking strength across most other major markets globally as investors pinned hopes on the progress on the bill to raise US debt ceiling and grew optimistic that the Fed might hold key interest rates in its next meeting.

Here's a list of the top 10 things to know before you start your day:

• SGX Nifty futures: Singapore Exchange (SGX) Nifty futures — an early indicator of the Nifty 50 index — were up 76.5 points or 0.4 per cent at 18,640 at the last count ahead of th opening bell on Dalal Street, having gained as much as 91.5 points to 18,655 earlier in the day. 
• Asian markets: A majority of Asian markets rose in early hours on Friday, with MSCI's broadest index of Asia Pacific surging 1.8 per cent. Japan's Nikkei 225 was up 0.8 per cent, China's Shanghai Composite 0.6 per cent and Hong Kong's Hang Seng 3.3 per cent.
• Wall Street: Overnight, the three main US benchmarks rose. The Dow Jones climbed up half a per cent, and the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq each rose around one per cent to nine-month closing highs.
• US debt ceiling update: The US Senate is on track to pass a bill to lift the US government's $31.4 trillion debt ceiling. The Treasury Department has warned it will be unable to pay all its bills on June 5 if Congress fails to act.
• GST collections: Official data released after market hours on Thursday showed GST collections in India rose 12 per cent on a year-on-year basis to Rs 1,57,090 crore in May — a fifth such instance when monthly collections exceeded the Rs 1.4 lakh crore mark.  
• Rupee vs dollar: The rupee strengthened by 33 paise or 0.4 per cent to close at 82.42 on Thursday.
• Dollar index: The US dollar index — which measures the greenback against six peers other than the rupee — came off a two-month high hit the previous day to hit 103.6 on the downside, down 0.5 per cent on the day. US manufacturing data and comments by Fed officials reinforced expectations the US central bank will likely skip an interest rate hike at its upcoming meeting.
• Crude oil: Crude oil prices rose in early Asian trade on Friday as markets weighed the likelihood of price-supportive OPEC+ production cuts over the weekend. Benchmark Brent futures were last up 0.2 per cent at $74.4 a barrel.
• FII, DII flow: FIIs began the month as net sellers. Their net sales of Indian shares stood at Rs 71.1 crore on June 1, though DIIs made net purchases of Rs 4,88.9 crore, according to provisional exchange data. However, many analysts a trend of persistent FII inflows, seen over the past few weeks, will continue. May emerged the best month for Dalal Street investors in 26 months in terms of FII inflows. 
• Over to RBI: With the earnings season now behind, investors await the outcome of a scheduled bi-monthly review by the RBI, from June 6 to June 8, for cues. 

(With inputs from agencies)