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 Indian shares are set to open flat on Monday, as investor sentiment remained tepid due to sustained foreign selling and lacklustre corporate quarterly earnings.

The Gift Nifty was trading at 24,222, as of 07:37 a.m. IST, indicating that the benchmark Nifty 50 will open near Friday's close of 24,180.8.

The Nifty 50 and BSE Sensex posted losses for a fourth straight week on Friday, the longest such streak since August 2023.

The Nifty 50 has dropped 8% from its record-high levels hit on Sept. 27, weighed down by foreign outflows for the last 20 sessions, as investors direct funds to China on Beijing's stimulus measures and relatively cheaper valuations.

FPIs have offloaded $13.23 billion worth of shares in the previous 20 sessions, according to provisional data from the NSE, eying record monthly foreign outflows.

The Nifty index has lost 6.3% so far in October, on course for its worst month since March 2020 when a COVID-19 lockdown spooked global markets.

Besides foreign selling, weak earnings have also hurt investor sentiment and added to the selling pressure, two analysts said.

Asian markets were subdued, as traders assessed the outcome of the Japan's national elections, in which the ruling coalition failed to acquire majority.

Wall Street equities were mixed on Friday, with analysts expecting volatility to rise due to uncertainty around the U.S. presidential election on Nov. 5. [MKTS/GLOB]

STOCKS TO WATCH

** Private lender ICICI Bank beats September-quarter profit view on healthy loan demand, even as lending margins shrink.

** Real estate developer DLF posts higher second-quarter profit on sales of launched houses.

** Drugmaker Torrent Pharma misses second-quarter profit view as shutdown of an insulin manufacturing facility weighed.

** State-owned Coal India reports fall in net profit in September quarter.

($1 = 84.0780 Indian rupees)