Indian shares seen flat after 3-session rally on oil slide; Fed decision eyed
Indian shares are set for a muted open on Wednesday, as investors pause after a three-day rally fuelled by a drop in crude oil prices following the U.S.-Iran peace deal, while caution emerged ahead of the Federal Reserve's policy decision.
The Fed is widely expected to keep interest rates unchanged amid concerns that new Chair Kevin Warsh could adopt a more hawkish tone at his first policy meeting later in the day.
India's GIFT Nifty futures were trading at 24,005 as of 7:46 a.m. IST, indicating that the Nifty 50 may open near Tuesday's close of 23,989.15.
Broader Asian markets also lost momentum after recent gains, with the MSCI Asia ex-Japan index down 0.3%.
Brent crude futures were little changed at around $79 a barrel, after dropping 5.1% to close at their lowest since March 2.[O/R]
Analysts said the Fed's commentary would be closely tracked for signals on the future rate path, while growing concerns over weak progress in India's monsoon and its impact on inflation could cap domestic market gains.
Over the past three sessions, the Nifty 50 has risen 3.6%, while the Sensex advanced 4%.
Foreign portfolio investors remained net sellers, offloading Indian shares worth 7.49 billion rupees ($79.22 million) on Tuesday and taking outflows to a record $30.67 billion so far this year.
U.S. rate-sensitive IT and pharmaceutical stocks are likely to stay in focus, along with index heavyweight Reliance Industries.
Its telecom unit, Reliance Jio Infocomm, could file draft papers for an expected $4 billion IPO within days, the Financial Times reported on Wednesday, ahead of Chairman and Managing Director Mukesh Ambani's address on Friday.
STOCKS TO WATCH
** Infosys collaborates with Finnish firm Valmet for IT operations with AI-accelerated information
** Sona BLW approves 626 million rupees towards the manufacturing of components and systems for the robotics industry
** Wipro opens AI center for Anthropic's Claude in Bengaluru
** Krishna Defence & Allied Industries wins 456.4 million-rupee order from Ministry of Defence for supply of special steel products for shipbuilding, to be executed over 8 months
($1 = 94.5500 Indian rupees)
