The benchmark is likely to trade between 17,800 and 18,300 in the next two weeks, analysts said.
On Friday, 12 of the 13 major sectoral indexes declined,
with heavyweight financials and information
technology (IT) stocks losing 0.83% and 1.21%
respectively.
The drop in domestic equities comes after a slide in Wall
Street as data showed a higher-than-expected rise in producer
prices in January and a fall in jobless claims, signalling the
Fed could stick with its high-rate regime.
That could weigh on growth in the world's largest economy,
from where Indian IT companies get a significant share of their
revenue.
All 10 constituents of the IT index declined, with HCL
Technologies , Tata Consultancy services ,
Wipro and Infosys losing between 0.8% and
1.6%.
Nestle India fell 3.19% as analysts flagged concerns of volume growth deceleration. On the flip side, Schaeffler India rose 4.35% after reporting a higher quarterly profit. "While global cues could act as the major trigger for domestic equities in the near-term, the Nifty 50 is likely to remain resilient due to reasonable valuations and India's macro stability," said Narendra Solanki, head of equity research at Anand Rathi Shares and Stock Brokers. Foreign investors are also expected to help cap losses, buoying the market as they have done in the past few sessions. Over the past five sessions, FIIs have bought a net 60.88 billion rupees ($736.3 million), reversing an extended selling trend earlier in the year.
($1 = 82.6830 Indian rupees) (Reporting by Bharath Rajeswaran in Bengaluru; Editing by Savio D'Souza and Nivedita Bhattacharjee)
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