BENGALURU (Reuters) – Indian shares are set to open higher on Monday as rising bets of a rate pause by the U.S. Federal Reserve aided sentiment, ahead of domestic retail inflation data later in the day.
India’s NSE stock futures listed on the Singapore Exchange were up 0.37% at 18,679.50, as of 7:57 a.m. IST.
Wall Street equities closed at new highs for 2023 on Friday, on rising odds of a rate hike pause by the U.S. central bank in its upcoming meeting on June 14. [FEDWATCH]
Asian markets were mixed, ahead of rate decisions from the Bank of Japan and European Central Bank, due this week. [MKTS/GLOB]
Investors also await domestic retail inflation data, due post-market hours on Monday.
India’s inflation likely cooled to a 20-month low of 4.42% in May as food price rises slowed further, drawing closer to the Reserve Bank of India’s medium-term target of 4%, a Reuters poll of economists found.
India’s central bank kept the repo rate at 6.50% for a second straight meeting last week but indicated that monetary conditions will remain tight to bring inflation down to the 4% target.
Indian shares witnessed profit booking post the RBI policy but closed with weekly gains on Friday. Both benchmarks were below 2% of all-time-high levels.
Foreign institutional investors sold 3.09 billion rupees ($37.44 million) worth of Indian equities on a net basis on Friday, while domestic investors bought 12.46 billion rupees of shares ($151 million), as per provisional NSE data.
STOCKS TO WATCH
** Kotak Mahindra Bank: Canada Pension Plan Investment Board sold 33 million shares (1.66% stake) in the lender at an average price of 1,855.65 rupees per share.
** Cochin Shipyard: Co declared lowest bidder by the Indian Navy for upgrade of a naval ship; estimated contract value is around 3 billion rupees.
** Interglobe Aviation: Co expands codeshare partnership with Turkish Airlines, launches new codeshare flights to four cities in the United States via Istanbul from June 15.
** CMS Info Systems: Promoter Sion Investment Holdings sold 21.2 million shares (13.75% stake). SBI Mutual Fund, IIF Mutual Fund-IIFL Focused Equity Fund, Norges Bank on Account of the Government Pension Fund Global, Valuequest Investment, Abu Dhabi Investment Authority – Stable and 360 ONE Mutual Fund bought shares via open market transactions.
($1 = 82.4901 Indian Rupees)
(Reporting by Bharath Rajeswaran in Bengaluru; Editing by Sohini Goswami)
