By Bharath Rajeswaran and Indranil Sarkar
(Reuters) -Indian shares were little changed on Tuesday, with investors exercising caution as they await key inflation data from India and the United States due later in the week.
The NSE Nifty 50 added 0.04% to 24,627.75 points as of 11:05 a.m. IST, while the BSE Sensex rose 0.05% to 81,554.58.
The benchmarks gained over the last three weeks after slipping into correction territory – a 10% drop from record-high levels – in early November.
“It appears the market has entered a consolidation phase, with the bulls taking a pause,” said Sameet Chavan, head of research at Angel One.
Ten of the 13 major indexes rose on the day, with heavyweight IT index rising the most by 0.7%.
Infosys and LTIMindtree climbed about 2% each after HSBC upgraded the two companies and termed them its’ top picks in the sector.
The broader, more domestically focussed smallcaps and midcaps traded flat.
The U.S. CPI data, due on Wednesday, will likely shape the Federal Reserve’s interest rate trajectory, impacting foreign inflows into emerging markets such as India. Domestic inflation figures, due a day later, is expected to have eased in November.
Analysts expect domestic markets to remain flat ahead of the two datasets, which could influence the timing of the RBI’s rate cut.
Additionally, with India’s new central bank governor from the Ministry of Finance, a rate cut at the February meeting “is now likely cemented,” said Nomura.
“When bureaucrats have joined the RBI in the past, we have observed a greater alignment with the government’s way of thinking in the initial period.”
Among individual stocks, online food delivery platform Swiggy gained 3.3% after CLSA initiated coverage with “outperform”, forecasting a 32% upside in the next 12 months.
Drugmaker Glenmark Pharma rose 2.5% on positive early-stage results for its blood cancer drug.
Life Insurance Corp of India fell 3% after posting a 27% year-on-year drop in total premium collections in November.
($1 = 84.8340 Indian rupees)
(Reporting by Bharath Rajeswaran and Indranil Sarkar in Bengaluru; Editing by Varun H K and Janane Venkatraman)
