The Nifty 50 index was down 0.02% at 17,355.25, as of 10:18 a.m. IST. The S&P BSE Sensex fell 0.06% to 58,952.16.
Ten of the 13 major sectoral indexes advanced, with auto stocks rising 1.5% on strong March sales. SML Isuzu jumped over 15% after passenger vehicle sales more than tripled in March. Inflation concerns soured sentiment on a sharp rise in crude oil prices after Saudi Arabia and other oil-exporting countries announced a surprise production cut over the weekend.
Analysts expect the cuts to lift oil prices by about $10 per
barrel, with Goldman Sachs raising its Brent crude forecast to
$95 per barrel by the end of 2023. The cuts reinforce the tightening of oil markets in the
second half of 2023 and is a negative for India as a whole and
oil marketing companies in particular, according to Anil Sharma
and Aditya Bansal, research analysts at Kotak Institutional
Equities.
Bharat Petroleum Corporation of India and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation of India each fell 3%. Most Adani Group stocks also declined on Monday. India's market regulator is investigating a possible violation of "related party" transaction rules in the conglomerate's dealings with at least three offshore entities linked to the brother of group founder Gautam Adani, Reuters reported, citing two people.
Separately, investors are likely to tread with caution ahead of the Reserve Bank of India's rate decision, due on April 6, said two analysts. The RBI is likely to raise its main interest rate by 25 basis points and then pause for the rest of the year, according to a Reuters poll of economists.
(Reporting by Bharath Rajeswaran in Bengaluru; Editing by
Janane Venkatraman, Dhanya Ann Thoppil and Sonia Cheema)
