India Stocks: Indian shares set to open lower; small-caps, mid-caps in focus

Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers

24/06/2024 03:30

BENGALURU, June 24 (Reuters) - Indian shares are set to
open lower on Monday, with the focus on small- and mid-cap
stocks after a report said the country's markets regulator was
investigating allegations of "front-running" at Indian fund
house Quant Mutual Fund.
    The GIFT Nifty  GIFc1  was trading at 23,388 as of 07:53
a.m. IST, indicating that the Nifty 50  .NSEI  will open below
its close of 23,501.10 on Friday.
    The benchmarks ended lower on Friday, succumbing to profit
booking after hitting all-time highs, although they posted a
third straight week of gains powered by a rally in financials.
    The broader, more domestically focussed small-  .NIFSMCP100 
and mid-caps  .NIFMDCP100  will be in focus after local news
website Money Control reported on Sunday that the Securities and
Exchange Board of India (SEBI) was probing allegations of front
running - or dealing on price-sensitive information before its
general release - at Quant Mutual Fund.
    While the fund house did not respond to Reuters queries on
Sunday evening, it said in a statement to its investors that it
is responding to the regulator's queries.
    Quant Mutual Fund is the fastest-growing fund house in the
country, with assets under management of 930 billion rupees
(about $11 billion). It is also an active investor in small- and
mid-cap stocks, which have jumped 72% and 59% over the last
year, outperforming the Nifty 50's 26% rise.
    Asian markets were subdued on Monday while most Wall Street
equities closed lower on Friday. Investors await key U.S.
inflation data as well as the first U.S. presidential debate
later in the week.  MKTS/GLOB 
    Foreign investors snapped a four-session buying streak on
Friday, offloading shares worth 17.90 billion rupees on a net
basis while domestic investors purchased stocks worth a net
12.37 billion rupees.   
    
    STOCKS TO WATCH
    
    ** Ujjivan Small Finance Bank  UJJI.NS : Lender lowers its
fiscal 2025 loan growth guidance by 500 basis points. 
    ** Cipla  CIPL.NS : Drug maker gets six observations in form
4823 after U.S. drug regulator inspects its Goa facility;
separately Blackrock raises stake in the company to over 5%. 
    ** Garden Reach Shipbuilders  GRSE.NS : Company gets order
for construction of four multi-purpose cargo ships from a German
company. The consideration for the order is 4.50 billion rupees.
    
($1 = 83.5430 Indian rupees)

 (Reporting by Bharath Rajeswaran in Bengaluru; Editing by
Janane Venkatraman
)
 ((bharath.rajeswaran@thomsonreuters.com; +91 9769003463;))