India's GIFT Nifty was up 0.06% at 19,687 as of 8:07 a.m. IST, indicating that the Nifty 50 will open below Thursday's close of 19,794.

While India's September retail inflation eased to a three-month low of 5.02%, the rise in U.S. consumer prices triggered a slide in global markets. Wall Street equities closed lower overnight, and broader Asian markets declined. [MKTS/GLOB]

IT stocks, which fell on Thursday following Tata Consultancy Services' results, are once again in focus after the results of Infosys and HCLTech.

While Infosys cut the upper end of its annual revenue forecast to 2.5% from 3.5%, HCLTech slashed its revenue forecast to 4%-5% from 6%-8%. Infosys' U.S.-listed shares fell 6.53%.

Oil prices continued to hover around $86 per barrel for the third session after rising to $89 earlier in the week due to the military conflict in the Middle East.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) extended their selling streak for the 17th consecutive session on Thursday, offloading Indian shares worth 18.63 billion rupees ($223.8 million).

Domestic investors bought shares worth 15.32 billion rupees, on a net basis.

STOCKS TO WATCH:

** Tech Mahindra: Company to divest 33% shareholding in Tech Mahindra South Africa (PTY).

** Interglobe Aviation, SpiceJet: Air passenger traffic grew 18.3% to 12.2 million in September.

** Dr. Reddy's Laboratories: Drug maker has been issued Form 483 with nine observations by the U.S. FDA for Bachupally manufacturing plant in Hyderabad.

** Panacea Biotech: Drug maker has been issued Form 483 with nine observations by the U.S. drug regulator for Baddi facility in Himachal Pradesh.

($1 = 83.2370 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Bharath Rajeswaran in Bengaluru; Editing by Varun H K)