Indian shares set to fall on hawkish US Fed despite slower rate hike

Indian shares were set for a muted open on Thursday, after commentary from the U.S. Federal Reserve suggested that the high interest rate regime might last longer than expected.

India's NSE stock futures listed on the Singapore exchange were down 0.32% to 18,690, as of 7:35 a.m. IST.

Fed Chair Jerome Powell said that the Fed will maintain a "restrictive enough" policy stance to control inflation, and raised the short-term rate target by 50 basis points.

Wall Street equities slid after the statement, with all the key indexes logging losses.

Asian markets were also off to a tepid start, with the MSCI Asia ex Japan sliding 1.02%. [MKTS/GLOB/]

 

Adding to the woes for Indian markets could be oil prices, which rose after the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and the International Energy Agency forecast a demand rebound in 2023. [O/R]

The rise in oil prices is a negative for oil-importing countries like India, where crude constitutes the bulk of the import bill.

Foreign institutional investors purchased 3.72 billion rupees ($45.07 million) worth of equities on a net basis on Wednesday, while domestic investors bought 9.26 billion rupee$112.20 million) worth of shares, as per provisional NSE data.

Stocks To Watch:

** IRCTC: Co to offload 20 million shares (2.5% stake) through offer-for-sale (OFS) route between Dec. 15 and Dec. 16 at 680 rupees per share floor price.

** Dilip Buildcon: Co executed a contract agreement worth 10.61 billion rupees with the Gujarat Metro Rail Corporation.

** NTPC: Co commercialised and began operations of the second part capacity of 67.73 Megawatt out of 230 Megawatt Ettayapuram solar PV project.

** Poonawalla Fincorp: Co approved the sale of housing subsidiary Poonawalla Housing Finance to TPG at 39 billion rupees.

($1 = 82.5320 Indian rupees)

 

(Reporting by Bharath Rajeswaran in Bengaluru; Editing by Janane Venkatraman)