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India's equity benchmarks are poised to open higher on Thursday, supported by the Federal Reserve's interest rate cut and optimism over a potential U.S.-China trade deal ahead of a meeting between Presidents Donald Trump and Xi Jinping.Gift Nifty futures were trading at 26,155 points as of 7:10 a.m. IST, indicating that the benchmark Nifty 50 will open above Wednesday's close of 26,053.9.Both benchmarks gained about 0.5% each on Wednesday, finishing less than 1% below the all-time highs hit in September 2024.Other Asian markets also opened marginally higher after the Fed cut rates by a quarter of a percentage point on Wednesday, as expected.However, Fed Chair Jerome Powell signalled that this could be the final rate cut of 2025, tempering bets for another reduction in December.Lower U.S. rates generally make emerging markets such as India more attractive to foreign investors.Meanwhile, investors are also awaiting updates from the Trump-Xi meeting later in the day, where a trade deal between the world's top two economies is expected to be finalised.Such a deal could boost demand for commodities, including metals and crude oil, as the two countries are the world's largest consumers.On Wednesday, foreign portfolio investors were net sellers of Indian equities, with outflows totalling 25.4 billion rupees ($289 million). Domestic institutional investors bought shares worth 56.93 billion rupees.Among individual stocks, Larsen & Toubro will be in focus after reporting a strong second-quarter profit and forecasting an annual order outlook beat.PB Fintech's September-quarter profit more than doubles year-on-year on online insurance growthHindustan Petroleum Corp reports a surge in quarterly profit on strong refining marginsUnited Breweries posts profit fall in the second quarter on higher levies and tepid demandBrigade Enterprises logs rise in September-quarter profit, helped by strong luxury housing demand
