Trading of Nifty 50 index futures on the Singapore stock exchange indicates that the Nifty could rise 43 points at the opening bell on bargain hunting after a recent sell off.

Overseas, Asian stocks were mixed, with several regional markets attempting to recover after sliding on trade jitters in the last session. The cautious mood came amid an elevation in trade tensions between the US and China. The trade war between the world's top two economies intensified midweek after US President Donald Trump raised pressure on China by proposing a higher 25% tariff on $200 billion worth of Chinese imports. China reportedly responded on Thursday, saying that it was fully prepared to defend the interests of the people and free trade.

Investors were also cautious ahead of the July US jobs report due later on Friday, which will give a reading on the health of the world's largest economy and possible clues about the pace of Federal Reserve interest rate rises.

US stocks ended a rocky session decidedly higher on the back of a record rally by Apple that took the iPhone maker to a market cap above $1 trillion, a runup that helped Wall Street set aside bothering trade issues between the US and China.

On the US data front, initial jobless claims rose by 1,000 in the latest week, however they were near their lowest levels since the 1970s. The report comes a day ahead of the highly anticipated July jobs report. Separately, factory orders rose 0.7% in June.

Investors also digested the latest moves from the Bank of England (BoE), which pushed interest rates above their financial crisis lows on Thursday but signalled it was in no hurry to raise them further with an uncertain Brexit on the horizon. BoE raised its main interest rate by 25 basis points to 0.75%, as had been expected.

Closer home, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) sold shares worth a net Rs 639.87 crore yesterday, 2 August 2018, as per provisional data released by the stock exchanges. Domestic institutional investors (DIIs) sold shares worth a net Rs 340.30 crore yesterday, 2 August 2018, as per provisional data.

Domestic stocks dropped sharply in tandem with global stocks yesterday, 2 August 2018, on escalating US-China trade spat. The barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, lost 356.46 points or 0.95% to settle at 37,165.16. The Nifty 50 index lost 101.50 points or 0.89% to settle at 11,244.70.