By Rama Venkat
BENGALURU (Reuters) -Indian shares were trading lower on Wednesday, broadly tracking their Asian peers, as investors were jittery ahead of the U.S. Federal Reserve’s guidance on future rate hikes later in the day.
The NSE Nifty 50 index was 0.17% lower at 18,115.20 as of 0456 GMT, and the S&P BSE Sensex fell 0.19% to 61,006.39. If losses hold, the indexes will likely snap four straight sessions of gains.
“Looking at U.S. equities’ recent gains, the expectation is that after Wednesday’s 75-bps rate increase, further hikes could be softer,” said Siddhartha Khemka, head of retail research at Motilal Oswal Financial Services.
The benchmark indexes closed at over nine-month highs in the previous session after climbing over 5% each in October on corporate earnings reports and hopes of a less-hawkish stance from major central banks.
Data overnight showed an unexpected rise in U.S. job openings in September, tempering expectations that the Fed may slow the pace of interest rate hikes.
Wednesday’s 75-bps hike is largely baked in but crucial for markets will be the Fed’s commentary on inflation and any guidance on the future rate hike plans.
Asian shares too wobbled in cautious trading ahead of the Fed’s policy outcome. [MKTS/GLOB]
Traders also await the outcome of the Reserve Bank of India’s Thursday meeting that, Reuters reported, was most likely to discuss the central bank’s response to the government after failing to meet its inflation target for three quarters in a row.
In domestic trading, Nifty’s IT and automobile indexes weighed, dropping 0.60% and 0.67%, respectively.
Karnataka Bank shares surged as much as 20% after the private lender reported a over three-fold jump in quarterly profit.
Tech Mahindra rose upto 2.6% to hit a over one-month high after the IT services provider reported better-than-expected quarterly profit and revenue on Tuesday.
(Reporting by Rama Venkat in Bengaluru; Editing by Savio D’Souza and Janane Venkatraman)
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