Uptick In Food Inflation Amid Muted Kharif Sowing Keeps Investors Cautious

New Delhi: An uptick in domestic food inflation on the back of higher mandi prices trending above MSP and muted Kharif sowing has forced the investors to be cautious, according to Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services.
Monsoon progress and the Kharif sowing trend in July are the keys to the future inflation trend, he said. The range-bound movement in the Indian indices was influenced by the likelihood of subdued IT earnings while optimism about moderation in US inflation supported the broad index. Domestic equities witnessed some slide on Wednesday from their highs after remaining in the consolidative mode over the last six trading sessions. Rebalancing in the benchmark indices due to the merger of HDFC twins led to many changes at the index level and the adjustments took place in the last 30 minutes on Wednesday, said Siddhartha Khemka, Head of Retail Research, Motilal Oswal Financial Services.
Nifty opened higher but last 30-minute selling in the heavyweight led the index to close near the day’s low with a loss of 55 points at 19,384. Sectorally, it was a mixed bag with buying seen in PSU banks, Khemka said. “We expect the market to remain in consolidative mode with support at lower levels. Investors will react to the domestic and US CPI data that will be released on Wednesday. TCS and HCL results will give cues for other IT majors. Auto, PSU banks, pharma, building material and defence sector stocks could continue to see positive momentum," he added. —IANS