BENGALURU (Reuters) -Indian shares were little changed at the open on Friday after a sharp rally to all-time highs in the previous session, with traders expecting markets to consolidate near current levels.
The Nifty 50 index was down 0.17% at 25,346.3 points, while the S&P BSE Sensex shed 0.15% to 82,840.59, as of 9:21 a.m. IST.
Both the benchmarks opened about 0.15% higher each, before surrendering gains in the early minutes of trade.
The indexes rose about 2% each on Thursday – their best session since early June – to hit record highs. The Nifty has risen to all-time highs 55 times this year.
The rally, led by commodities, was sparked by foreign inflows and expectations that top metals consumer China is likely to cut interest rates on mortgages to boost consumption.
Foreign portfolio investors bought Indian shares worth 76.95 billion rupees ($916.7 million) on a net basis on Friday, the highest FPI inflows since June 19.
Analysts expect foreign institutional investment (FII)inflows to Indian equities to rise on firm hopes of a likely U.S. rate cut next week and on domestic macroeconomic stability.
Eight of the 13 major sectoral indexes logged losses. Metals gained 1%, adding to a nearly 3% rise in the previous session.
Indian markets are likely to see only incremental moves in this session as an equilibrium emerges between the tendency of some investors to lock in profits after a rally and others resort to buying every dip, two traders said.
Asian markets traded higher on the day, with the MSCI Asia ex-Japan index gaining 0.5%.
($1 = 83.9460 Indian rupees)
(Reporting by Bharath Rajeswaran in Bengaluru; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips and Sonia Cheema)
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