India’s benchmark indexes are set to open marginally lower, with analysts expecting a consolidation phase following a largely in-line earnings season, while tech stocks await direction from the ongoing Artificial Intelligence Impact Summit.
The Gift Nifty futures were trading at 25,624.5 points as of 7:54 a.m. IST, indicating the benchmark Nifty 50 will open slightly below Monday’s close of 25,682.75.
Both the Nifty and the Sensex rose about 0.8% on Monday, paring part of their two-session slide of 2% as value buying in HDFC Bank and Reliance offset IT-led losses on AI fears.
“With the results season ending on a strong note, we expect markets to remain sideways with a marginal positive bias,” said Siddhartha Khemka, head of research of wealth management at Motilal Oswal Financial Services.
Nifty 50 firms reported 7.5% year-on-year profit growth in the December quarter, while the broader BSE 500 posted a 16% increase, despite a one-off hit from the government’s new labour code.
“The upcoming Infosys AI-focused investor meet and ongoing AI summit are expected to provide direction for IT companies with updates on enterprise AI adoption, monetisation, deal pipelines, and regulatory outlook closely tracked,” Khemka said.
IT index rose 0.2% on Monday. It lost 8.2% last week, its worst showing in 10 months, on concerns that AI-related disruption could hurt software companies’ earnings.
Other Asian markets traded flat in a holiday-thinned trading. Wall Street equities were closed on Monday.
Brent crude futures traded steady after rising 1.3% on Monday ahead of the upcoming U.S.-Iran talks aimed at de-escalating tensions, which could have implications for oil prices.
Foreign portfolio investors (FPI) remained sellers of Indian stocks for the second straight session on Monday, offloading shares worth 9.72 billion rupees ($107.07 million), while domestic institutional investors bought stocks worth 16.67 billion rupees, according to NSE’s provisional data.
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