By Vivek Kumar M
(Reuters) -India’s benchmark indexes were muted in early trading on Thursday, following a seven-session rally and as investors parsed through the earnings from fast-moving consumer goods major Hindustan Unilever.
The Nifty 50 was down 0.09% at 24,306.5 and the BSE Sensex lost 0.1% to 80,037.58 as of 10:25 a.m. IST. The indexes had clocked their highest closing levels of 2025 in the previous session.
Seven of the 13 major sectors gained while the broader, more domestically focussed small-caps and mid-caps advanced about 0.2%.
Other Asian markets declined, with the MSCI Asia ex-Japan index shedding 0.7% as a global relief rally on hopes of a de-escalation of U.S.-China trade war stuttered. [MKTS/GLOB]
“The market has rallied smartly after the Trump pause, with financials leading the way… We see two key drivers from the market going forward: pace of bilateral trade deals by the U.S., with China in focus and earnings momentum,” said Emkay Global Financial Services.
India’s FMCG index rose 0.75%, led by a 2% gain in Hindustan Unilever despite the company missing quarterly profit estimates due to an urban demand slowdown.
Nestle India, which is scheduled to report its results later in the day, gained 3% while Tata Consumer Products fell after its operating margin fell in the fourth quarter.
Samhi Hotels jumped 4% after it announced a joint venture with Singapore’s GIC to develop upscale hotels in India with an investment of $300 million.
Investors are drawing comfort from foreign inflows into Indian equities over the last few sessions. Foreign investors have been net buyers of Indian shares over the last six sessions.
“Foreign investors have pivoted to net buyers in cash markets while gradually covering their short positions in index futures. This shift indicates that markets will find buying support at lower levels during pullbacks,” said Devarsh Vakil, head of prime research at HDFC Securities.
(Reporting by Vivek Kumar M and Bharath Rajeswaran; Editing by Janane Venkatraman, Sonia Cheema and Mrigank Dhaniwala)
