Indian equity market may open flat to positive on global cues

The Indian equity market is expected to open in the green with SGX Nifty trading at 8614.50 up 6.00 point. The 30-share BSE Sensex was up 47.81 points at 28024.33 and the 50-share NSE Nifty gained 25.15 points at 8615.80 on Wednesday.

Ahead of an earnings-heavy day and initiation of the Bank of Japan's (BOJ) two-day policy meeting, Asia markets opened mixed on Thursday. In Japan, traders are looking ahead to Friday's monetary policy review, after Prime Minister Shinzo Abe announced a fiscal-stimulus package exceeding 28 trillion yen, in a bid to jump-start their economy.

In the US, stocks closed mixed after the US Federal Reserve statement and major earnings reports. Gains in shares of Apple countered declines in coca-cola. The dow jones and S&P 500 closed a mildly lower. The Nasdaq composite outperformed, helped by gains in Apple. The stock closed 6.5 percent higher, its best day since April 2014 after reporting better-than-expected earnings.As for the markets in Europe, stocks closed slightly higher Wednesday ahead of the latest monetary policy decision from the US central bank and better-than-expected UK economic data.

In the currency market, the dollar slipped against the euro and the yen after Fed stayed pat.

Crude prices in commodities declined over 2 percent overnight at a three-month low after the US government reported surprise builds in crude and gasoline inventories.

In precious metal space, gold extended its climb above 1,330 dollars an ounce after the US Federal Reserve left interest rates unchanged as expected.

Back home, Cabinet has approved 3 major changes to the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Bill— 1 percent manufacturing tax is scrapped, states "shall" get 5 year compensation and GST council will decide on dispute resolution.