Indian shares closed the special Diwali session little changed on Sunday, pausing a seven-day rally. Foreign investors bought shares worth 459.61 billion rupees last week, helping the market. Ravi Singh said, "The recent decline in crude oil prices following the US midterm elections has eased concerns over inflation and the rupee."
Nov 8 (Reuters) - Indian shares closed the special Diwali session little changed on Sunday, pausing a rally driven by a resurgence of foreign inflows, as limited exposure to AI insulated domestic stocks from the global technology selloff.
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The benchmarks had jumped more than 10% in the seven sessions up until Friday, as a sharp decline in oil prices after the US midterm election results boosted sentiment for stocks in Asia's third-largest economy.
Foreign portfolio investors bought shares worth 459.61 billion rupees ($4.89 billion) over five sessions last week, including their biggest single-day buying session in India in about six years on Thursday.
"The recent decline in crude oil prices following the US midterm elections has eased concerns over inflation, India's import bill and pressure on the rupee," Ravi Singh, chief research officer at Master Capital Services, said.
Strong FII buying, supportive global cues and better-than-expected September-quarter earnings have reinforced the rally, he added.
Raamdeo Agrawal, chairman and co-founder of Motilal Oswal Financial Services, said the combination of relatively low valuations and strong earnings growth could position markets for "bumper returns" by next Diwali.
($1 = 93.9000 Indian rupees)
Reporting by Bharath Rajeswaran and Vivek Kumar M in Bengaluru; Editing by Andrew Heavens