Indian shares steady ahead of inflation data, earnings barrage
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Indian shares were little changed on Monday as investors awaited domestic inflation data, due later in the day, for clues on the central bank's interest rate trajectory, while the corporate earnings season draws close.
The NSE Nifty 50 index was up 0.09% at 18366.65 as of 0521 GMT, while the S&P BSE Sensex, which hit a record closing high on Friday, slipped 0.07% to 61,753.75.
Both the indexes had logged their fourth straight weekly gain, last week.
A Reuters poll showed economists expect retail price inflation slowed to 6.73% last month, due to weaker food price rises and a strong base year, but remained stubbornly above the Reserve Bank of India's 6% upper limit.
"If we get some amount of cooling off in inflation figures, it will be another boost to the markets," said Anita Gandhi, director at Arihant Capital Markets, adding "overall sentiment continues to be positive."
Nifty's IT and metal indexes were among the top gainers, rising 0.7% and 1.4%, respectively.
"Because India is expensive as compared to the global markets, valuations are something which one needs to closely watch," Gandhi said.
Life Insurance Corporation of India rose 5.6% after reporting a surge in quarterly profit, while Pfizer Ltd, the Indian arm of U.S. pharma giant Pfizer Inc, climbed 2.6% on earnings growth.
More than 1,000 companies are scheduled to report results on Monday, which will mark the end of the month-long earnings season. These include low-cost carrier SpiceJet, drugmaker Biocon, tyre manufacturer Apollo Tyres as well as conglomerates Godrej Industries and Grasim Industries.
Almost two-thirds of the near 200 Indian companies with market capitalization of $100 million and more have reported a rise in profit for the September quarter, data tracked by Reuters showed.
