IGI Logo

Indian shares are set for a muted open on Wednesday, likely weighed by growing uncertainties around national elections, with heightened volatility expected to keep markets under pressure.

The Gift Nifty was trading at 22,395 as of 8:15 a.m. IST, indicating that the Nifty 50 will open near Tuesday's close of 22,302.50.

The benchmarks have surrendered early gains to close lower in the past two days, due to uncertainty around elections and continued foreign investor selling. The ongoing earnings season has also helped push volatility to a 15-month high.

Lower voter turnouts so far have created apprehension among investors in terms of the majority with which the ruling party could win elections, analysts said.

The Nifty is witnessing resistance at higher levels, indicating investor caution with the progress of both the earnings season and elections, said Siddhartha Khemka, head - retail research, Motilal Oswal Financial Services.

Foreign portfolio investors sold Indian shares worth 36.69 billion rupees ($439 million) on a net basis on Tuesday, while domestic institutional investors bought a net of 23.05 billion rupees in stocks.

FPIs have been sellers in 20 of the last 25 sessions.

Meanwhile, Asian shares edged lower, after a rally in the Wall Street lost steam on mixed signals from U.S. policymakers and economic data on interest rate trajectory. [MKTS/GLOB]

On the domestic earnings front, Nifty 50 constituents Hero MotoCorp and construction major Larsen and Toubro are expected to report results after the close.

STOCKS TO WATCH:

Dr. Reddy's Laboratories: The drugmaker expects a healthy product pipeline in the key North American market in FY25 after topping fourth-quarter profit expectations.

United Breweries: The beermaker's fourth-quarter profit surged eight-fold on price hikes and premium beer sales.