Indian benchmarks likely to open flat amid foreign sell-off, weak sentiment

Feb 25 (Reuters) – India’s benchmark indexes are likely to open little changed on Tuesday, after last session’s losses, weighed down by persistent sell-off by foreign investors and weak global sentiment.

The GIFT Nifty futures were trading at 22,582.5 as of 07:39 a.m. IST, indicating that the blue-chip Nifty 50 will open near Monday’s close of 22,553.35.

Asian markets slipped in early trades, with the MSCI Asia ex Japan down 1.2%, mirroring the overnight losses in the U.S.

U.S. President Donald Trump’s comments that tariffs on Canada and Mexico are “on time and on schedule” and his decision to restrict Chinese investments in strategic areas were the fresh triggers weighing on investor sentiments on the day.

The Indian benchmarks fell for the fifth straight session on Monday to close at their lowest in nearly eight months as persistent selling by foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) and concerns over slowing U.S. growth rattled domestic investors.

FPIs sold 62.87 billion rupees ($724.9 million) of shares on Monday, the highest single-day outflow from Indian equities in about six weeks, provisional data showed.

Foreign investors have offloaded shares worth $3.12 billion so far in February and about $24 billion since October 2024, when the ongoing sell-off began.

The benchmarks have been down as much as 14% since hitting record highs in late September and are on course for their fifth consecutive month of losses, the first since 1996.

** Oil and Natural Gas Corp will invest 12 billion rupees in its subsidiary ONGC Green via rights issue subscription.

** Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency shareholders approved a proposal to raise up to 50 billion rupees through qualified institutional placement of equity shares. ($1 = 86.7230 Indian rupees) (Reporting by Vivek Kumar M; Editing by Sumana Nandy)