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Indian shares are likely to open marginally higher on Friday after joining the global rally in the previous session as the U.S. Federal Reserve stuck to its rate cut forecast, while other Asian peers opened lower after Thursday's gains.

The Gift Nifty was trading at 22,060 as of 8:06 a.m. IST, indicating that the Nifty 50 will open above Thursday's close of 22,011.95.

Asian markets opened lower, with the MSCI Asia ex-Japan dropping 0.9%, after adding 1.82% in the previous session.

Wall Street equities advanced overnight as the Fed-driven rally extended. [MKTS/GLOB]

While the Fed maintained its outlook for 2024 rate cuts, the Swiss National Bank became the first major central bank to ease policy in this cycle.

Bank of England kept rates unchanged and said that the country is moving in the right direction for it to start cutting interest rates, aiding expectations of a near-term reversal in the global interest rate cycle.

Domestically, heavyweight information technology stocks will be in focus after U.S. software giant Accenture cut its 2024 revenue growth forecast, blaming gloomy dealmaking on an uncertain economy.

Accenture is widely considered to be the bellwether for the Indian IT sector as its results provide cues into how clients in major Western markets are faring, key to their revenue flow.

India's blue-chip indexes Nifty 50 and Sensex ended higher on Thursday, buoyed by gains in the metal index and large-caps, while small- and mid-caps shook off their recent underperformance, adding about 2.5% each.

"It is too early to say if small- and mid-caps are on a relief rally, but a spillover of risk appetite has probably led to an uptick," said Ajit Mishra, vice president of research at Religare Broking.

Foreign portfolio investors sold Indian shares worth 18.27 billion rupees (~ $220 million) on a net basis on Thursday, while domestic institutional investors bought a net 32.09 billion rupees of stocks.

STOCKS TO WATCH:

** LTIMindtree: Life Insurance Corporation of India increased stake in company to 5.03% from 4.99%.

** Tata Chemicals: Company received income tax penalty of 1.04 billion rupees.

** Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders: Company acceptedoffer of Mumbai Port Authority for allotment of land and building at an allotment cost of 3.54 billion rupees.

($1 = 83.2150 Indian rupees)