BENGALURU (Reuters) - Indian shares were seen opening muted on Thursday following a mostly flat close in the previous session, with pessimism prevailing amid rising volatility and selling by foreign investors.
The Gift Nifty was trading at 22,388 as of 8:31 a.m. IST, indicating that the Nifty 50 will open near Wednesday's close of 22,302.50.
Selling pressure from foreign investors, coupled with uncertainty around the country's ongoing elections have kept investors jittery, with the volatility index scaling a 15-month-high for the third straight session as of Wednesday.
The prevailing market sentiment is likely to remain pessimistic amid increased volatility, said Ajit Mishra, senior vice president of Research at Religare Broking.
Foreign portfolio investors net sold Indian shares worth 66.69 billion rupees ($799 million) on Wednesday, while domestic institutional investors net bought 59.29 billion rupees in stocks.
FPIs have been sellers in 21 of the last 26 sessions.
Asian shares were subdued on Thursday as investors awaited China trade data, while the yen steadied after three days of declines as Japan talked up a potential currency intervention. [MKTS/GLOB]
Wall Street equities ended mostly mixed overnight. [.N]
On the domestic front, investors are awaiting results from Nifty constituents State Bank of India and Asian Paints.
Market reaction to Larsen and Toubro's results - which beat fourth-quarter expectations but lowered revenue outlook on election and geopolitical risks - will also be in focus.
STOCKS TO WATCH:
Bank of Baroda: Lender said that the RBI has lifted restrictions on adding customers on its mobile application.
Tata Power: Utility firm reported fourth-quarter profit jump, helped by strong energy demand.
Piramal Enterprises: Non-banking financial company reported fourth-quarter profit, aided by reversal of AIF provisions.
($1 = 83.4630 Indian rupees)
(Reporting by Hritam Mukherjee in Bengaluru; Editing by Varun H K)
