BENGALURU (Reuters) – Indian shares are likely to open little changed on Tuesday with traders expecting profit booking as the benchmark indexes hover near record highs, while a global rally on U.S. rate cut hopes paused.
The GIFT Nifty was trading at 25,025.5 as of 08:04 a.m. IST, indicating that the NSE Nifty 50 will open near its previous close of 25,010.6.
Asian stocks fell as investors pondered looming U.S. interest rate cuts and awaited earnings from AI darling Nvidia, while rising tensions in the Middle East and supply concerns checked risk sentiment and lifted oil prices.
The MSCI Asia ex-Japan index fell about 0.4%, while most of Wall Street’s main indexes closed lower overnight.
Investors await the U.S. personal consumption and core inflation data, due on Friday, for clues into the rate easing trajectory.
Oil prices rose 3% higher overnight, with the Brent crude futures settling at $81.43.
However, Brent retreated in Asia hours to around $81 per barrel as of 08:04 a.m. IST.
Higher oil prices are a negative for importers of the commodity like India, where crude contributes a significant share to the country’s import bill.
The Nifty has logged gains in last eight sessions, inching towards all-time highs, helped by expectations of a U.S. rate cut in September and sustained inflows from domestic investors.
There might be some profit booking early in the session as traders look to capitalise from the recent rally, two traders said.
Domestic institutional investors (DII) remained net buyers of Indian equities for the 16th straight session on Monday, while foreign institutional investors (FII) purchased Indian shares for the third straight session.
STOCKS TO WATCH
** Hindustan Unilever receives tax demand of 9.63 billion rupees (about $115 million) from income tax department.
** Ultratech Cement raises $500 million via sustainability-linked financing.
** HCL Tech and Xerox extend agreement to drive innovation with AI and digital engineering.
** AU Small Finance Bank: Morgan Stanley, Societe Generale buy stake while Fincare Business sells 1.7% stake.
($1 = 83.8860 Indian rupees)
(Reporting by Bharath Rajeswaran in Bengaluru; Editing by Varun H K)
Disclaimer: This report is auto generated from the Reuters news service. ThePrint holds no responsibilty for its content.