Indian shares closed lower on Tuesday as investors awaited the central bank's policy meeting decision later this week, weighed down by technology stocks. The broader NSE index fell 0.55% to 12,021.65, while the benchmark BSE index settled 0.46% lower at 40,083.54. Tata Consultancy Services fell 2.6%, dragging the Nifty IT index 1.6% lower.
India's economy grew at its slowest pace in more than four years in the January-March period, raising prospects of a rate cut by the Reserve Bank of India on Thursday.
Indian markets are closed on Wednesday for a holiday.
India's economy grew at its slowest pace in more than four years in the January-March period, according to data released last week, raising prospects of a rate cut by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) at its June 4-6 policy meeting.
The rupee, meanwhile, strengthened as much as 0.33% to its strongest level since April 15.
Trading volumes were thin ahead of Wednesday's market holiday. On the NSE index, over 95,000 shares changed hands in early trade, compared with the 30-day average of 388 million shares.
"Till the RBI policy and the budget is out, markets will be hoping for a lot of reforms," said Deepak Jasani, analyst at HDFC Securities.
"To what extent those hopes are fulfilled, we don't know... the index will be mildly bullish till these two events are done."
India will announce its full-year budget for the year ending March 2020 on July 5 - an event expected to provide a glimpse into the newly-formed government's plans for the economy.
Among shares, Tata Motors Ltd added 1.55%, while Mahindra and Mahindra Ltd advanced 0.7%. The Nifty Auto index rose 0.12%.
Comments
Comments are closed.