India's NSE stock futures listed on the Singapore exchange were down 0.20% at 18,236.50 as of 8:03 a.m. IST.
The benchmark Nifty 50 index rose over 4% in April, its best month since November 2022. The index moved into overbought territory for the first time in nearly five months on Friday.
The index gained 2.5% last week, logging gains in each of the last five sessions despite opening lower in two sessions. "Domestic equities are continuously gaining strength, supported by health earnings and foreign institutional investors' buying," said Siddhartha Khemkha, head of retail research at Motilal Oswal Financial Services Ltd. "Expect this momentum to continue and Nifty to head towards 18,200 levels." Foreign institutional investors extended their buying streak for the third session and added equities worth 33.04 billion Indian rupees ($202.34 million) on Friday. Wall Street equities closed slightly lower overnight after data showed U.S. construction spending rose more than expected in March, indicating strength in economic spending. This set the stage for a rate hike on Wednesday. Asian equities are subdued. The odds of a 25-basis point hike at the May 3 meeting stands at 97.1%, up from around 80% on Friday. Tata Steel Ltd, Ambuja Cements Ltd, Varun Beverages Ltd, DCM Shriram Ltd, Home First Finance Company Ltd, and KEI Industries are among the companies reporting their corporate earnings on Tuesday.
Stocks to Watch:
** Ultratech Cement Co's March-quarter profit
falls over 32% on higher energy costs.
** Mahindra & Mahindra Financial Services Ltd : Co
reports year-on-year rise in consolidated profit in March
quarter.
** Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd : Lender reports 26%
rise in Q4 net profit in Q4.
** RBL Bank Ltd : Lender's gross advances up 16%
year-on-year.
($1 = 81.6950 Indian rupees)
(Reporting by Bharath Rajeswaran in Bengaluru)
