Sensex, Nifty Set To Follow Asian Peers Lower

Indian shares look set to open lower on Tuesday as COVID-19 worries persist and inflation concerns returned to the fore.

The WHO reclassified the highly contagious triple-mutant COVID variant spreading in India as a “variant of concern” at the global level, and said it will provide more details in its situation report Tuesday.

Meanwhile, India’s GDP growth may slip to 8.2 percent in financial year 2021-22 if the second wave of coronavirus pandemic in the country peaks by June-end, rating agency CRISIL said while maintaining its baseline estimate of 11 percent growth.

Benchmark indexes Sensex and the Nifty climbed 0.6 percent and 0.8 percent, respectively on Monday to extend gains for the fourth day running, while the rupee closed 0.22 percent higher at 73.35 against the U.S. dollar, a level last seen on 5 April.

Asian markets tumbled this morning, with Japan’s Nikkei falling as much as 3 percent, as surging commodity prices stoked concerns about inflation. The dollar nursed losses while gold held steady amid a retreat in U.S. Treasury yields.

U.S. stocks fell overnight on worries about accelerating inflation. The Dow hit a record intraday high before finishing 0.1 percent lower, while the S&P 500 fell over 1 percent and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite tumbled as much as 2.6 percent after negative analyst comments.

European stocks struggled for direction on Monday as caution set in after recent strong gains. The pan European Stoxx 600 edged up 0.1 percent.

The German DAX and France’s CAC 40 index both closed little changed while the U.K.’s FTSE 100 slipped 0.1 percent.

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