Strong global cues to drive market higher

Indian equities are likely to open positive on Friday, Sept. 7, 2012. SGX Nifty is trading at 5,318 (07.21 a.m.), 48 points higher than Thursday"s closeof 5,270.

Asian stocks rose after the European Central Bank announced an unlimited bond-buying program to reduce the borrowing costs for the region"s most indebted nations, boosting demand for riskier assets. Japanese benchmark index Nikkei 225 rose 131.79 points, or 1.52%, to trade at 8,812.36.

The price of oil rose above USD 96 a barrel on Thursday in international markets. By early afternoon in Europe, benchmark crude for October delivery was up USD 1.10 to USD 96.46 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. In London, Brent crude was up 84 cents at USD 113.93 on the ICE Futures exchange.

US stocks closed at multi-year highs on Thursday, with the S&P 500 ending at its highest level since before the collapse of Lehman Brothers as investors hailed a new European bond-buying program aimed at stemming the region"s debt crisis. The Dow Jones industrial averagerose 244.52 points, or 1.87%, to 13,292.00.

European stocks rallied the most in a month after European Central Bank President Mario Draghi said policy makers agreed to an unlimited bond-purchase program as they try to regain control of interest rates in the euro area. UK"s benchmark index FTSE 100 advanced 119.48 points, or 2.11%, to end at 5,777.34.

In the spot market, the Dollar Index increased 0.12% to 81.13 (21:38 ET).

World commodity prices gained on Thursday with the increase in Reuters Jefferies CRB Index by 0.20%.