By Bharath Rajeswaran
BENGALURU (Reuters) -Indian shares were little changed on Tuesday, tracking the pause in a global rally, while analysts expected some profit booking after an eight-session winning streak.
The NSE Nifty 50 index added a marginal 0.08% to 25,030.9 as of 10:05 a.m. IST. The S&P BSE Sensex rose 0.1% to 81,809.
The indexes have jumped about 3.6% in the past eight sessions, including about 0.75% on Monday after the Federal Reserve indicated it would start cutting interest rates from September, which is expected to reroute foreign funds to India.
There might be some profit booking early in the session, two analysts said.
But, “Indian equities will likely consolidate rather than see a correction, driven by strong domestic inflows,” said Santosh Pandey, president and head of Nuvama Professional Clients Group (PCG).
Asian stocks also retreated as investors pondered the looming U.S. rate cuts and awaited earnings from AI darling Nvidia, while rising tensions in the Middle East and supply concerns checked risk sentiment and lifted oil prices. [MKTS/GLOB]
Brent crude prices held their ground after having jumped 7% in the past three sessions. Higher oil prices hurt net importers like India, where crude contributes a significant share of the country’s import bill and could raise inflation. [O/R]
Seven of the 13 major sectors dropped on the day, led by energy stocks.
The more domestically focussed small- and mid-caps rose about 0.5% each.
Among individual stocks, road infrastructure developer Ceigall India climbed 3% after posting an 80% surge in its June-quarter profit.
Auto parts maker Ucal jumped 20% after signing deal with Blaer Motors to make motor controller.
Health tech provider Medi Assist Healthcare surged 9.5% on a deal to buy Paramount TPA, which, according to Investec, will boost its market share.
(Reporting by Bharath Rajeswaran in Bengaluru; Editing by Varun H K and Savio D’Souza)
