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Indian shares are set to open lower on Thursday, tracking the weakness in their global peers and as investors refrain from big bets ahead of the outcome of national elections early next week.

The Gift Nifty was trading at 22,646 points as of 08:03 a.m. IST, indicating the benchmark Nifty 50 will open lower than its previous close of 22,704.

The Nifty 50 and the S&P BSE Sensex dropped for a fourth straight session on Wednesday as investors continued to book profits.

The markets are likely to remain weak ahead of the election results, due next Tuesday, and weak global cues are further adding to the nervousness, said Siddhartha Khemka, Head - Retail Research, Motilal Oswal Financial Services.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan fell 0.5%, tracking the overnight drop on Wall Street on increasing bets that global interest rates would stay higher for longer.

Foreign investors were net sellers of Indian equities on Wednesday, offloading shares worth 58.41 billion rupees ($701 million), while domestic institutional investors bought 52.34 billion rupees in stocks as per provisional NSE data.

STOCKS TO WATCH:

** Edelweiss Financial Services: The Indian central bank barred two units from acquiring financial assets or undertaking structured transactions.

** Tata Steel: The steelmaker reported a 64% fall in consolidated net profit for the quarter ended March 31.

** Adani Enterprises: The company envisions an annual capex build-up of about $9 billion for fiscal 2025. ($1 = 83.3690 Indian rupees)