Nifty set for soft open as Brent holds near $115 and Fed decision looms
Indian equities were headed for a weaker open on Tuesday, with GIFT Nifty futures at 22,669.5 against the Nifty 50's Monday close of 22,753.2, as Brent crude held near $115 a barrel and investors waited on the US Federal Reserve's policy decision later this week.
The Nifty 50 and BSE Sensex had risen 0.7% on Monday, snapping a four-session losing streak on post-earnings gains in select stocks. Brent's push to a six-month high followed attacks on Saudi Arabia that dampened hopes of an immediate easing of regional tensions. Costly oil is a direct drag on India, which imports the bulk of its energy needs, feeding inflation, straining the fiscal deficit and squeezing corporate profits.
The Fed is expected to hold rates steady on Wednesday before resuming tightening with a December increase, according to a poll of economists. Hariselvan Radhakrishnan, founder and CEO of HST Wealth, said a hawkish signal could lift yields and the dollar and restrict emerging-market flows, while balanced guidance might let the recent equity recovery broaden.
Foreign investors sold Indian shares worth 14.62 billion rupees ($153.60 million) on Monday, provisional data showed. They have offloaded $4.75 billion so far in October and a record $32.56 billion in 2026. Part of that gap reflects what India lacks: Asian stocks rose more than 1% on a rally in AI-linked shares after Anthropic, the owner of Claude, filed a prospectus for a record-breaking IPO, while India's thin AI exposure has been a key reason for the record foreign selloff and the Nifty 50's sharp underperformance against emerging-market peers.
