Indian stocks are set to start softly this Friday, after posting their best day in more than two weeks last session, as the global rally on hopes of a US interest rate cut faltered.
The Gift Nifty was trading at 22,480 at 8:11 a.m. IST, indicating that the Nifty 50 will open near Thursday’s close at 22,403.85.
Wall Street’s three major indexes closed lower overnight, with the Dow Jones industrial average and Nasdaq Composite reversing course after hitting new record highs in intraday trading.
The decline came after data showed a decline in weekly jobless claims, indicating a tight labor market, while a rise in prices of U.S. imports signaled continued price pressures.
The data dampened hopes for an early interest rate cut on colder-than-expected inflation data for April.
Asian markets started the day mixed.
India’s benchmark indices gained about 0.9% each on Thursday, their best session since April 29, while volatility hovered around 19-month levels on sustained foreign selling and concerns over the outcome of domestic elections.
“Concerns over continued selling by foreign investors, Indian VIX still above 20 levels, ongoing general elections and their outcome could keep volatility high,” said Siddhartha Khemka, head of research at the retail market, Motilal Oswal Financial Services.
Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) have offloaded stocks worth 276.19 billion rupees ($3.31 billion) in May so far, which is the highest in 16 months since January 2023.
The Nifty 50 gained 1.58% this week, which is expected to be its best week since the start of February.
VALUES TO MONITOR
** Biocon – The Indian biopharmaceutical company reported a decline in fourth-quarter profit due to rising raw material costs.
** Vodafone Idea – India’s third-largest telecom operator by subscribers missed analysts’ estimates for quarterly revenue due to falling user numbers.
** Container Corp of India – The state-owned company posted a higher fourth-quarter profit on Thursday, helped by growing volumes in its main export and import segment.
($1 = 83.4920 Indian rupees) (Reporting by Dimpal Gulwani and Bharath Rajeswaran in Bengaluru; Editing by Nivedita Bhattacharjee)
