BENGALURU (Reuters) – Indian shares are set to open little changed on Monday as investors consolidated their positions amid a slew of June quarter results and a lack of other immediate economic triggers.
India’s GIFT Nifty on the NSE International Exchange was down 0.03% at 19,782.5 as of 8:08 a.m. IST.
Asian markets edged higher on Monday after U.S. data signaled easing of core inflation on Friday, bolstering hopes that the U.S. Federal Reserve may be at the end of the monetary policy tightening cycle. Wall Street equities had closed higher on Friday. [MKTS/GLOB]
The Nifty 50 lost 0.5% last week while Sensex shed 0.79%. Both the blue chips had risen nearly 6% between June 25 and July 21, scaling fresh all-time highs.
Despite the slide, the benchmarks are still less than 2% shy of the record highs scaled on July 20. Analysts expect the consolidation to continue and see selling pressure emerging due to elevated valuations.
Foreign institutional investors sold 10.24 billion rupees ($124.54 million) of Indian equities on a net basis on Friday, while domestic investors purchased 16.34 billion rupees of shares, as per provisional NSE data.
STOCKS TO WATCH:
** Marico: Co posts Q1 profit beat as lower costs offset sluggish demand.
** Power Grid Corporation of India: Co declared as successful bidder for two projects; to reports June quarter earnings on Monday.
** Gland Pharma: U.S. drug regulator concludes inspection at Co’s Visakhapatnam facility with zero 483 observations.
** United Breweries: Co posts 16% slide in June quarter profit.
** Key earnings on Monday: Maruti Suzuki India, UPL, Power Grid.
($1 = 82.2250 Indian rupees)
(Reporting by Bharath Rajeswaran in Bengaluru; Editing by Nivedita Bhattacharjee)
