(Reuters) – Indian shares are set to open flat on Monday, with caution prevailing ahead of the U.S. presidential election and the likelihood of further interest rate cut by the Federal Reserve.
The Gift Nifty futures were trading at 24,320, as of 07:41 a.m. IST, indicating that the benchmark Nifty 50 will open near Friday’s close of 24,304.35.
The Nifty 50 and BSE Sensex rose about 0.4% each in the special one-hour “muhurat” trading session on Friday, led by auto stocks on the back of positive monthly sales data. “Muhurat” means auspicious in Hindi.
Automakers will be in focus, after several key constituents, including two-wheeler maker Hero MotoCorp, reported monthly sales data post market hours on Friday.
The blue-chips Nifty and Sensex logged their worst month since March 2020 in October, weighed by record monthly foreign outflows as investors redirected funds to China on Beijing’s stimulus announcements and cheaper valuations.
Lacklustre domestic corporate earnings also added to October’s selling pressure.
The U.S. presidential election on Tuesday and the Fed’s policy decision on Nov. 7 will influence Indian markets’ near-term trajectory and investors will likely remain cautious as they await clarity on the political front and the rate trajectory in the world’s largest economy, said two traders.
Foreign selling, which hit a monthly record high of 940.17 billion rupees ($11.18 billion) in October, continued during “muhurat” trading, with foreign institutional investors (FII) remaining net sellers for the 25th consecutive session on Friday.
STOCKS TO WATCH
** Two-wheeler maker Hero MotoCorp posts 16% year-on-year rise in total sales in October.
** SML Isuzu reports drop in total sales in October.
** Premier Energies secures orders worth 56 million rupees from two major power producers.
($1 = 84.0600 Indian rupees)
(Reporting by Bharath Rajeswaran in Bengaluru; Editing by Sumana Nandy)
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