(Reuters) -India’s equity benchmarks are poised to open little changed on Tuesday after falling for seven straight sessions, hurt by steep U.S. tariffs and a hike in the H-1B visa fee, while caution prevails ahead of the central bank’s rate decision on Wednesday.
Gift Nifty futures were trading at 24,694.5 points as of 07:44 a.m. IST, indicating that the benchmark Nifty 50 will open near Monday’s close of 24,634.9.
Both the Nifty and the BSE Sensex have lost about 3.1% in the last seven sessions, their longest losing streak in nearly seven months. However, they are up 0.85% and 0.7% in September so far, aided by earlier gains driven by the government’s tax cuts to boost domestic consumption.
“Persistent foreign fund outflows and caution ahead of the monetary policy committee (MPC) meeting continue to weigh on sentiment,” said Ajit Mishra, senior vice president of research at Religare Broking.
FPIs have offloaded Indian shares worth $2.55 billion in September so far after selling $6 billion in the previous two months.
Focus is now on the Reserve Bank of India’s monetary policy decision, due on Wednesday, with nearly three-quarters of economists in a Reuters poll expecting rates to remain unchanged.
However, several major banks flagged the possibility of a cut, citing mounting risks to growth. A cut would lower borrowing costs, lift consumption, and bolster corporate earnings, providing a boost to domestic equities.
“While we do believe that there is limited scope for any change in the repo rate in this policy, there is a market view that given the current environment, a rate cut would be warranted,” said Madan Sabnavis, chief economist at Bank of Baroda.
STOCKS TO WATCH
** Tata Steel signs pact with Dutch government to transition to low-carbon emission steel production at its IJmuiden plan
** Bharat Electronics wins orders worth 10.92 billion rupees
** PTC India Financial Services says it is surprised by the unexpected resignation of three independent directors citing governance concerns
** Markets regulator bars Man Industries and three of its top executives from accessing the securities markets for two years over alleged fund diversion
(Reporting by Bharath Rajeswaran in Bengaluru; Editing by Eileen Soreng)