Dec 16 (Reuters) - India's benchmark indexes fell on Monday, weighed down by losses in heavyweight financials and IT stocks ahead of the U.S. Federal Reserve's interest rate decision this week.
The Nifty 50 was down 0.5% at 24,652 as of 11:08 a.m. IST, while the BSE Sensex shed 0.47% to 81,754.6. The benchmarks notched their longest weekly winning run since July on Friday.
On Monday, ten of the 13 major sectors were trading lower.
Investor focus is on the Fed's monetary policy decision on Wednesday and the central bank's commentary on further rate cuts.
A 25-basis-point rate reduction is almost certain this week, with the odds at 97%, according to the CME FedWatch tool.
"Now that a September rate cut has happened, and a December one is near certain - there is a question of when and how much at all will Fed cut rates going into 2025 as Donald Trump takes the helm," said Aishvarya Dadheech, chief investment officer of Fident Asset Management.
Domestic IT firms, which earn a bulk of their revenue from the U.S., fell 0.4% on the day, with Tata Consultancy Services dipping 0.5%.
HDFC Bank, the heaviest stock on the Nifty 50, slipped 0.5%. This also pulled down financials by 0.2%.
Metals slipped 0.6%, tracking weak global prices after top consumer China's retail sales were weaker than expected in November, keeping pressure on Beijing to ramp up stimulus as it braces for more U.S. trade tariffs under a second Trump administration.
Tata Steel, JSW Steel and Hindalco were among the top five percentage losers on the Nifty, each falling about 1%.
The more domestically-focussed smallcaps rose 0.5%, while midcaps gained 0.4%.
Reporting by Hritam Mukherjee and Kashish Tandon in Bengaluru; Editing by Sumana Nandy, Varun H K and Sonia Cheema
Source: Reuters