BENGALURU: Indian shares were muted on Monday as investors awaited inflation data, due later in the day, for clues on the central bank’s interest rate trajectory and ahead of a slew of corporate earnings reports.

The NSE Nifty 50 index was up 0.1% to 18,366 as of 0405 GMT, while the S&P BSE Sensex, which hit a record closing high on Friday, rose 0.19% to 61909.51.

A Reuters poll showed economists expect retail price inflation slowed to 6.73% in October, due to weaker food price rises and a strong base year, but remained stubbornly above the Reserve Bank of India’s 6% upper limit.

In early trading, Nifty’s IT and metal indexes were among the top-performing sectors, gaining 0.9% and 1.6%, respectively.

The pharma and public sector bank indexes dropped nearly 1%.

Life Insurance Corporation of India rose 7.3% on after reporting a surge in quarterly profit. More than 1,000 companies are scheduled to report results later in the day.

Indian shares fall as autos weigh, awaits US inflation data

These include low-cost carrier SpiceJet , drugmaker Biocon, tyre manufacturer Apollo Tyres as well as conglomerates Godrej Industries and Grasim Industries.

Foreign institutional investors bought a net of 39.58 billion Indian rupees (about $492 million) of equities on Friday, while domestic investors bought 6.16 billion rupees of shares, as per provisional data available with the National Stock Exchange.