IGI Logo

Indian blue-chip indexes are set to open marginally higher on Wednesday, while a global stock rally showed signs of fizzling out.

India's GIFT Nifty was up 0.07% at 19,862.50 as of 8:08 a.m. IST, above the benchmark Nifty 50's Tuesday close of 19,783.40.

Wall Street equities closed lower overnight, with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq snapping a five-day winning streak.

The minutes of the U.S. Federal Reserve's latest policy meeting said that the central bank would only raise interest rates if progress in controlling inflation faltered.

The odds of a 25-basis-point Fed rate cut in May 2024 rose marginally to 47.4% post the minutes from 46.2% a day before.

Asian markets opened lower on the day, with the MSCI Asia ex-Japan index losing 0.43%. [MKTS/GLOB]

India's finance ministry said on Tuesday in its monthly report that a decline in international crude oil prices will help control domestic inflationary pressures going forward.

India's crude oil basket has averaged $83.93 a barrel in November so far, compared with $90.08 per barrel in October. A fall in crude oil prices is positive for importers of the commodity like India. [O/R]

The Nifty 50 has jumped 1.75% since soft U.S. inflation data on Nov. 14 elevated bets that the Fed will not hike rates further.

Information technology companies, which earn significant share of the revenue from the U.S., led the gains, climbing 5.52%.

"The short-term trend of Nifty continues to be range bound," said Nagaraj Shetti, technical research analyst at HDFC Securities.

The consolidation could eventually result in a decisive upside breakout of the hurdle at 19,900 levels, Shetti added.

Foreign institutional investors sold off Indian shares worth 4.56 billion rupees ($54.78 million) on Tuesday, on a net basis, while domestic institutional investors bought shares worth 7.22 billion rupees.

STOCKS TO WATCH:

** Titan Company: Competition regulator approves company's acquisition of additional shareholding in CaratLane Trading.

** Wipro: Software company teams with NVIDIA to utilise generative AI to healthcare insurance companies.

** Tata Consultancy Services: Company says it will make a provision of $125 million in its third quarter results in relation to a 2014 trade secret lawsuit filed by U.S.-based EPIC Systems.

** Bank of Baroda, Life Insurance Corporation of India: LIC raises stake in state-owned lender to 5.031% from 4.984% earlier.

($1 = 83.2440 Indian rupees)