Indian shares set to open Fed-focussed week flat

(Reuters) – Indian shares are likely to open little changed on Monday, in line with Asian peers, starting the week with a focus on the U.S. Federal Reserve’s policy meeting later this week and the imminent 25-basis-points interest rate cut.

The Gift Nifty futures were trading at 24,776, as of 8:10 a.m. IST, indicating that the benchmark Nifty 50 will open near Friday’s close of 24,768.3.

On Friday, the Nifty 50 and the BSE Sensex notched their longest weekly winning run since July, helped by gains in consumer stocks on easing domestic retail inflation.

Before closing nearly 1% higher on Friday, the Nifty 50 traded in a narrow range of 180 points in the first four days of the week.

“Nifty seems to have got back its bullish momentum and is likely to head towards the next target of 25,000. Support for the index is seen at 24,500,” said Devarsh Vakil, deputy head of retail research, HDFC Securities.

Meanwhile, investors’ attention will be on the Fed’s meeting on Wednesday, where the odds of a quarter of a percentage point rate cut is at 93%, according to CME FedWatch.

A Fed rate cut is supportive for domestic equities in general as it could bring foreign inflows. India’s IT firms, which earn a significant share of their revenue from the U.S., could benefit from the cut, analysts said.

Asian markets were in a wary mood as surging bond yields challenged equity valuations, particularly for the richly priced tech sector, in a week packed with central bank meetings and major economic data. Wall Street closed flat on Friday. [MKTS/GLOB]

Domestic investors net sold Indian stocks worth 7.32 billion rupees ($86.3 million) on Friday, while foreign investors net purchased shares worth 23.35 billion rupees, exchange data showed.

Reliance Industries: The oils-to-telecoms conglomerate bought a 74% stake in an industrial area developer in Mumbai for 16.28 billion rupees.

Lupin: Drugmaker acquired anti-diabetes trademarks from Boehringer Ingelheim.

JSW Steel: Indian financial crime-fighting agency restored assets worth 40.25 billion rupees of Bhushan Steel and Power to JSW Steel following approval from the Supreme Court, per multiple media reports.

($1 = 84.8230 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Hritam Mukherjee and Kashish Tandon in Bengaluru; Editing by Sumana Nandy)