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 Indian shares are set to open higher on Friday, after rising in the last three sessions, aided by sustained domestic buying, and in line with the rise in Asian peers after fresh U.S. data signalled a cooling economy.

India's GIFT Nifty was trading at 22,082 as of 8:07 a.m. IST, indicating that the NSE Nifty 50 will open above Thursday's close of 21,910.75.

Asian markets opened higher, mirroring the overnight gains in Wall Street equities, after data showed a larger-than-expected drop in U.S. retail sales in January, which led to a slight adjustment in future rate expectations. [MKTS/GLOB]

The domestic blue-chip indexes Nifty 50 and BSE Sensex rebounded from a negative start to the week on Monday, logging gains in the subsequent three sessions, supported by energy and public sector banks, and further bolstered by post-results rallies in key index stocks such as Mahindra & Mahindra and Coal India.

The blue-chip indexes have each gained about 0.6% so far in the week.

While foreign institutional outflows intensified after hot U.S. inflation data earlier in the week, domestic institutional inflows have remained robust.

Foreign portfolio investors have offloaded shares worth 49.19 billion rupees ($592.64 million) in the first half of February, according to National Securities Depository data.

On the contrary, domestic institutional investors have been net buyers in nine out of the 11 sessions in February so far, injecting 158.22 billion rupees into the capital market segment, according to provisional data from the National Stock Exchange.

STOCKS TO WATCH:

** Axis Bank, Max Financial Services: Companies clarified that there was no material impact of allegations made on a petition filed in the High Court of Delhi, alleging undue profits on Axis Bank's transaction with Max Life Insurance.

** Dilip Buildcon: Company's joint venture declared as lowest bidder for a Madhya Pradesh project worth 4.13 billion rupees.

** B L Kashyap and Sons: Company secured new orders worth about 2.08 billion rupees.

** Vedanta: Parent Vedanta Resources sold a stake worth 17.37 billion rupees in the Indian miner.

($1 = 83.0010 Indian rupees)