Indian benchmarks open flat as financials offset broader gains ahead of key inflation data
The Nifty 50 (.NSEI), opens new tab fell 0.01% to 24,583.75 points and the BSE Sensex (.BSESN), opens new tab lost 0.03% to 80,577.85, as of 9:22 a.m. IST.
Nine of the 16 major sectors logged gains at the open. However, the heaviest weighted financials (.NIFTYFIN), opens new tab and banks (.NSEBANK), opens new tab lost 0.4% each, after a gain of about 0.9% on Monday on the post-results rally in State Bank of India (SBI.NS), opens new tab.
The broader small-caps (.NIFSMCP100), opens new tab and mid-caps (.NIFMDCP100), opens new tab traded flat.
Other Asian markets were tepid, with the MSCI Asia ex-Japan index (.MIAPJ0000PUS), opens new tab edging 0.1% higher, as traders reacted little to U.S. President Donald Trump's executive order extending the tariff truce with China by another 90 days.
U.S. consumer prices data, due to be released later in the day, is likely to influence U.S. Federal Reserve's rate-cut trajectory.
Investors also await Indian retail inflation data, set to be released after market hours on Tuesday. Cooling food prices likely reduced retail inflation to an eight-year low of 1.76% in July, a Reuters poll of economists showed.
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