Indian Share Markets Expected to Open Flat Following Previous Gains

Market Opening

Indian shares are heading for a flat start on Wednesday after the market gained in the previous session. GIFT Nifty futures stood at 22,764 in the morning, pointing to a steady opening after the Nifty 50 closed at 22,721.95 on Tuesday. Both the Nifty and Sensex jumped about 1.6% previously, pushed up by IT stocks following strong quarterly results from HCLTech.

Pressures And Stock Moves

Market sentiment faces pressure from rising oil prices and continuous selling by foreign investors. Foreign portfolio investors stayed net sellers for the 13th straight session on Tuesday, pulling out 13.05 billion rupees, while domestic institutional investors bought shares worth 24.39 billion rupees. Oil prices climbed near $107 a barrel due to Middle East tensions and supply concerns. Several companies made news with their updates, including Tata Elxsi posting higher quarterly profit, Anand Rathi reporting a sharp rise in net profit, and Transformers and Rectifiers India seeing a profit jump of more than two times from a year ago. Bharat Electronics bagged orders worth 5.33 billion rupees since September 17, Wipro stated it sees no major business impact from a US PERM suspension, Zydus Lifesciences faced five observations after a US drug regulator inspection at its Ahmedabad plant, and Gujarat State Fertilizers and Chemicals approved a new acid plant at its Sikka unit.

Context

Stock markets often react quickly to changes in global crude oil prices because India imports a large share of its energy needs. Higher oil costs can push up local inflation and put pressure on the country's external finances. At the same time, ongoing foreign fund outflows can create a drag on domestic indices even when local corporate earnings show positive results.