India outperforms Asian tech selloff as oil retreat shifts market mood

what happened

Indian shares edged higher on Friday, and Reuters reported that steady foreign capital and limited exposure to AI-linked names shielded the stock market of Asia's third-largest economy from the global downturn. The Nifty 50 gained 0.51% to 24,662.80, while the Sensex rose 0.76% to 79,917.60 by 10:33 a.m. IST.

Elsewhere in the region the picture was far grimmer, with Seoul's Kospi plunging 8% and Tokyo's Nikkei shedding 5% after Wall Street's slide. India had lagged emerging-market peers this year as investors piled into AI stocks and costlier crude fanned worries about demand and inflation.

The mood changed after the Democratic sweep in the US midterm vote and Brent slipping below $100 a barrel. Overnight the Nasdaq dropped 5.5% following weak Qualcomm earnings and doubts about future AI infrastructure spending.

why it matters

The most telling figure for markets is the scale of inflows: foreign investors bought roughly 150 billion rupees ($1.6 billion) of Indian equities on Thursday, their largest single-day net purchase in close to six years. Indian IT firms, which often move opposite to AI-linked stocks, have also gained over the last few sessions.

market impact

Indian equities: foreign inflows and weaker AI trades support the local market

• ▲Nifty 50 pressure up — foreign inflows and rotation out of AI-linked trades support the index
• ▲Indian IT stocks pressure up — they tend to move opposite to AI names after the US tech selloff

instruments