Oct 17 (Reuters) – India's equity benchmarks are poised for a muted open on Friday, following a recent rally driven by mounting optimism over a recovery in corporate earnings, while renewed U.S.-China trade tensions are likely to temper investor sentiment. Gift Nifty futures were trading at 25,613.5 points as of 7:50 a.m. IST, indicating that the benchmark Nifty 50 will open near Thursday's close of 25,585.3. The Nifty and BSE Sensex ended Thursday at three-month highs and now sit less than 3% below their record peaks reached in September 2024, fuelled by expectations of an earnings rebound and hopes for domestic and U.S. rate cuts. However, the mood in global markets was dented by rising friction between the U.S. and China. Top U.S. trade officials condemned China's expanded curbs on rare earths export, while Beijing accused Washington of stoking global panic over supply chain disruption. Back home, IT companies are likely to remain in focus, following strong quarterly results from Infosys , Wipro and LTIMindtree. All three companies surpassed revenue estimates, signalling improving demand in the second half of fiscal 2026 as clients embrace artificial intelligence (AI) projects. India's three most valued companies by market capitalisation – private sector lenders HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank , along with oil-to-telecom conglomerate Reliance Industries – will also be closely watched. HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank are scheduled to announce their September-quarter results on Saturday, while Reliance will report its second-quarter earnings after market hours on Friday. Foreign portfolio investors remained net buyers of Indian shares for the second straight session on Thursday, with net inflows of 9.97 billion rupees ($113.3 million). Meanwhile, domestic institutional investors purchased Indian shares worth 40.76 billion rupees. STOCKS TO WATCH ** Non-bank lender Jio Financial Services posts a marginal rise in consolidated net profit in the September quarter ** Footwear maker Metro Brands misses profit view in the second quarter as demand slipped ahead of tax cuts ** Punjab & Sind Bank posts 23% rise in quarterly net profit ($1 = 87.9660 Indian rupees) (Reporting by Bharath Rajeswaran in Bengaluru; Editing by Sumana Nandy)
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