Indian stock indices largely steady on Thursday

NEW DELHI: Indian stock indices were largely steady Thursday morning, largely due to a lack of fresh cues. Sensex and Nifty were just 0.05-0.1 per cent higher at the time of filing this report. Now, there are no immediate triggers that can take the market sharply up or down, analysts had said.

Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) have remained net buyers in Indian stock markets for the sixth straight month, according to data from the National Securities Depository (NSDL). But the quantum of inflow has slowed in the current month.

FPIs bought Indian stocks worth Rs 7,936 crore, Rs 11,631 crore, Rs 43,838 crore, Rs 47,148 crore, and Rs 46,618 crore in March, April, May, June, and July, respectively, data showed. In August, they have thus far bought assets worth Rs 12,252 crore. So far in 2023, foreign investors have put in Rs 135,277 crore in the Indian stock markets.

Notably, Sensex recently breached the 67,000 mark for the first time in mid-July. Firm economic outlook, firm global markets, and a relative moderation in inflation then contributed to the bull run in Indian stocks.

The benchmark Sensex is hovering around 65,000, with June and July inflation figures having depressed the market sentiments.

Retail inflation in India rose sharply in July to 7.44 per cent and in the process breached RBI's 6 per cent upper tolerance target, largely due to a sharp spurt in vegetable, fruit, and pulses prices.

In its latest policy meeting, the Reserve Bank of India upwardly revised the country’s retail inflation projections for 2023-24 at 5.4 per cent, against 5.1 per cent it projected in its previous monetary policy meeting in June.