Indian Equities Muted in Early Trade

The BSE Sensex remained mostly unchanged, hovering around 84,704 in early trading this Tuesday, following a dip over the past four sessions. This stagnation comes amid continual outflows of foreign capital and low year-end trading volumes. Gains in the metal and automotive sectors helped balance losses in technology, pharmaceuticals, and financial services stocks. According to preliminary figures, foreign investors divested a net sum of INR 27.6 billion ($307 million) from Indian shares on Monday, marking the largest single-day sale in nearly three weeks. Meanwhile, the Nifty 50 showed little movement, though small-cap and mid-cap indices experienced small declines of 0.2% and 0.1%, respectively. Investors are now looking ahead to the release of the Federal Reserve's meeting minutes and initial jobless claims data expected later this week. In the U.S., Wall Street ended on a negative note amid increasing apprehensions about companies linked to artificial intelligence. In stock performances, Mahindra & Mahindra increased by 1.4%, Tata Motors improved by 1.3%, and JSW Steel went up by 0.8%. Conversely, Bajaj Finserv and Kotak Mahindra Bank decreased by 0.8% and 0.6%, respectively.