Sensex Declines 0.25%, Nifty Down 100 Points As Investors Await US Inflation Data

Indian equity markets started Thursday’s session on a mixed note as investors remained cautious ahead of key global economic indicators, particularly US inflation data.

The BSE Sensex opened at 78,111, compared with its previous close of 77,966, while the NSE Nifty began trading at 24,431 against the previous closing level of 24,435.

However, both the indices declined further during the early trade. At around 10:20 am, Sensex was trading 188 points, or 0.24%, lower at 77,777 while Nifty was down almost 100 points to trade at around 24,336.

MSCI rejig to drive potential market inflows

Sectoral performance remained uneven in early trade, with the Nifty Cement index emerging as the biggest loser, declining more than 1%. The Nifty Pharma index also traded lower.

Meanwhile, the latest MSCI Standard Index review brought changes for several Indian companies. Laurus Labs, Lenskart, Adani Energy Solutions and Groww were added to the index, while Balkrishna Industries, SBI Cards and Astral were removed.

Following the changes, India’s weight in the MSCI Standard Index is expected to increase to 11.9% from 11.8%, with the number of constituents rising to 166 from 165.

According to experts, the additions could result in estimated inflows of around $1.52 billion. Laurus Labs is expected to attract the highest inflow among the new entrants at nearly $598 million.

The three companies removed from the index could collectively witness outflows of around $450 million.

Global markets focus on US inflation data

Global cues remained mixed as investors tracked economic developments in the US. US stock futures were largely unchanged on Wednesday night as markets awaited fresh inflation data and evaluated corporate earnings reports.

Dow Jones futures traded slightly above the flatline, while S&P 500 futures were marginally lower and Nasdaq-100 futures declined 0.1%.

Asian markets mostly gained, with South Korea’s Kospi rising 3.13% and Japan’s Nikkei 225 advancing 1.5%. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200, however, declined 0.6%.