Indian shares set for muted start as global trade risks, foreign outflows weigh

Indian shares are likely to open little changed on Tuesday, with sentiment weighed down by global trade uncertainty and persistent foreign fund outflows, while investors remain focused on quarterly corporate earnings.

Gift Nifty futures were trading at 25,597.5 points as of 7:43 a.m. IST, indicating that the Nifty 50 could start the session near Monday’s 10-week closing low of 25,585.5.

Global sentiments were subdued, with MSCI’s broadest index for Asia Pacific stocks outside Japan losing 0.4% amid U.S. President Donald Trump’s fresh tariff threat on eight European Union members over Greenland.

Meanwhile, foreign portfolio investors offloaded Indian shares worth 32.63 billion rupees ($358.9 million) on Monday, per provisional data, extending January’s outflows to about $3 billion and marking the heaviest monthly selling in five months.

The aggressive sell-off has pushed benchmarks Nifty 50 and Sensex down 2.1% and 2.3%, respectively, so far this month.

“Heightened geopolitical tensions, along with persistent foreign investor selling and continued weakness in the rupee, are weighing on confidence and likely to cap any meaningful upside in domestic equities even during short-term recoveries”, said Ponmudi R, chief executive officer at Enrich Money.