The Gift Nifty was trading at 22,124 as of 8:07 a.m. IST, indicating that the Nifty 50 will open above Friday's close of 22,096.75.
Asian markets opened higher, with the MSCI ex-Japan advancing 0.3%, after dropping 1.1% in the last two sessions. [MKTS/GLOB]
Wall Street equities closed lower overnight, after logging the best week in 2024 so far on Friday, as investors braced themselves for U.S. inflation data due later in the week and as a Federal Reserve-driven rally came to a pause. [MKTS/GLOB]
India's blue-chip indexes Nifty 50 and BSE Sensex gained about 0.3% each last week. The small- and mid-caps also added about 1.4% each despite valuation concerns.
With concerns regarding inflated valuations in small- and mid-cap stocks persisting, large-caps are expected to outperform in the medium term, said Vinod Nair, head of research at Geojit Financial Services.
Foreign portfolio investors sold Indian shares worth 33.10 billion Indian rupees (~ $397 million) on a net basis on Friday, while domestic institutional investors bought a net 37.65 billion rupees of stocks.
STOCKS TO WATCH:
** Ultratech Cement: Company commissioned 1 Mtpa brownfield cement capacity at its Uttarakhand unit.
** Hindustan Aeronautics: Company received an order worth 1.94 billion rupees from the Guyana defence force.
** Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers: Company signed contract worth 264.5 million rupees with India's Ministry of External Affairs for a fast patrol vessel.
** Dr. Reddy's Laboratories: Company entered into a licence agreement with Pharmazz to commercialise the first in-class drug Centhaquine in India. The drug is used as a resuscitative agent for hypovolemic shock.
($1 = 83.3650 Indian rupees)
(Reporting by Hritam Mukherjee and Bharath Rajeswaran in Bengaluru; Editing by Janane Venkatraman)
