By Hritam Mukherjee and Kashish Tandon
(Reuters) -India’s benchmark equity indexes fell on Monday, as uncertainty about the U.S. interest rate trajectory beyond the reduction expected this week weighed on IT companies, while metal stocks fell after underwhelming economic data from top consumer China.
The Nifty 50 ended down 0.4% at 24,668.25 points, while the BSE Sensex declined 0.47% to 81,748.57. Last week, the benchmarks notched their longest weekly winning run since July.
Seven of the 13 major sectors fell on Monday, with metals and IT firms leading the losses.
The more domestically-focussed smallcaps and midcaps rose 0.6% and 0.77%, with analysts attributing the outperformance to potentially stronger earnings for the ongoing quarter.
Indian IT firms, which earn a bulk of their revenue from the U.S., fell 0.74% on the day, with Tata Consultancy Services down 1.3% after Citi reportedly held its “sell” call on the stock.
All eyes are now on the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy decision on Wednesday. With a 25-basis-point rate cut near-certain, commentary on rate cuts in 2025 will be closely watched.
“Markets are pricing in that Fed’s 2025 rate cut timeline may be less certain… with a strong possibility that the policy easing cycle may see a pause and get pushed by a couple of quarters,” said Aishvarya Dadheech, chief investment officer of Fident Asset Management.
U.S. rate cuts help emerging market assets, such as Indian equities, as they boost foreign inflows.
On the day, thirty-five constituents in the 50-member Nifty index fell, with the heaviest stock HDFC Bank down 0.4%.
Metal stocks slipped 1%, tracking weak global prices after China’s retail sales were weaker than expected, keeping pressure on Beijing to ramp up stimulus as it braces for more U.S. trade tariffs under a second Trump administration. [MET/L]
Tata Steel, JSW Steel and Hindalco each fell about 1%.
(Reporting by Hritam Mukherjee and Kashish Tandon in Bengaluru; Editing by Sumana Nandy, Varun H K, Sonia Cheema and Mrigank Dhaniwala)
