India`s equity benchmarks likely to open flat as IT sell-off keeps sentiment gloomy
India's equity benchmarks are likely to open little changed on Monday as sentiment remained gloomy after the previous week's sell-off in IT stocks, with foreign investors going back to being net sellers after five sessions of buying.
The Gift Nifty futures were trading at 25,429.5 points as of 7:58 a.m. IST, indicating the benchmark Nifty 50 will open around Friday's close of 25,471.1.
The Nifty and Sensex fell about 1% each last week, dragged by IT stocks on anxiety around AI automation tools and their impact on traditional software businesses.
Foreign investors turned net sellers on Friday, offloading 73.95 billion rupees ($816.90 million) worth of Indian shares, after staying on the buying side for five straight sessions post the India-U.S. trade deal optimism, as per provisional data.
"With ongoing repricing in technology stocks and concerns around AI disruption, a selective and risk-managed approach remains advisable," said Ajit Mishra, senior vice president of research at Religare Broking.
The Nifty IT index dropped 8.2% during the week, in its biggest weekly drop in ten months. The U.S.-listed shares of Infosys rose 3.6% on Friday, while those of Wipro fell 2.3%.
The concerns around AI disruption could also dampen Monday's listing of enterprise data analytics company Fractal Analytics, touted as India's first pure-play AI listing.
STOCKS TO WATCH
** Shares of lenders will be in focus after the central bank allowed them to finance acquisitions up to 20% of their eligible capital base, following a review of bank exposure to capital markets
** Manappuram Finance received final approval from India's central bank for Bain Capital to acquire joint control and up to 41.66% of the company's equity and convertible instruments
** Electric two-wheeler maker Ola posted narrower quarterly loss on low cost for making its new lineup of models, but its revenue slumped sharply.
($1 = 90.5250 Indian rupees)
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