Stocks to Watch:
** Titan Co Ltd : Co reports 50% jump in Q4 profit.
** ABB India Ltd : Co's pre-tax profit in the March
quarter surges 66% on strong order wins.
** Petronet LNG Ltd : Co reports fall in March
quarter profit.
** Tata Chemicals Ltd : Co posts 62% rise in Q4
profit on strong demand.
($1 = 81.6740 Indian rupees)
(Reporting by Bharath Rajeswaran in Bengaluru; Editing by Varun
H K; Editing by Varun H K)
BENGALURU, May 4 (Reuters) - Indian shares were set to
open lower on Thursday amid choppy trading across global
equities, after the U.S. Federal Reserve raised rates on
Wednesday, but hinted at an end to its rate-hike cycle.
India's NSE stock futures listed on the Singapore exchange were down 0.35% at 18,097, as of 8:03 a.m. IST.
Wall Street equities closed lower overnight after the Fed
raised rates by quarter of a percentage point. However, Fed
chair Jerome Powell said that the central bank is closer to the
end of the current rate hiking cycle that began in March 2022.
Analysts said that pausing further rate hikes provided time
for the Fed to assess the ripple effects from recent bank
failures and inflation trajectory. Asian markets were muted. Indian equities snapped their recent winning streak on
Wednesday, ahead of the Fed rate decision. "The rally has been
continuous, fatigue was bound to happen and the trigger was the
Fed meeting," said Shrikant Chouhan, head of equity research
(retail) at Kotak Securities.
Meanwhile, Brent crude futures hovered around $73
per barrel, on global demand concerns, U.S. debt default
negotiations and the Fed rate hike. Both Brent and WTI crude have lost 10% since the start of the week.
The fall in oil prices is a positive for importers of the
commodity like India, where crude constitutes a significant
share of the country's import bill. Despite the slide in domestic equities on Wednesday, foreign
institutional investors (FIIs) remained net buyers for fifth
session in a row, adding equities worth 13.38 billion rupees
($163.8 million).
Investors await another busy earnings day with Housing
Development Finance Corporation Ltd, Hero MotoCorp Ltd, Adani
Enterprises Ltd, Tata Power Company Ltd, Dabur India Ltd, TVS
Motor Company Ltd reporting quarterly results on Thursday.
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