New Delhi, Feb 29: Indian stock indices were steady Thursday morning, with investors bracing for October-December quarterly GDP data slated to be released later in the day.

Analysts say the focus will be on small- and mid-cap stocks after strong inflows in these segments raised concerns.

"A significant development is the communication from SEBI to AMFI suggesting that mutual funds set up a framework for protecting investors in mid and small cap funds. Sustained flows of retail money into these funds have made their valuations excessive and difficult to sustain. More mid and small cap funds are likely to impose restrictions on lump sum investments into the mid and small cap schemes," said VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Financial Services.

"This will benefit the large caps which are relatively fairly valued now. The correction in the broader market is likely to continue," Vijaykumar added.

At 9.17 am, Sensex was at 72,303.53, down just 1.35 point or 0.0019 per cent, and Nifty at 21,939.75 points, down 11.40 points or 0.052 per cent. Among the widely-tracked Nifty 50 stocks, 12 advanced and the rest 38 declined at the time of filing this report.

Reliance Industries was the top mover among the Nifty 50 stocks (up 1.32 per cent), after it, Viacom 18 Media Private Limited (Viacom18) and The Walt Disney Company announced the signing of binding definitive agreements for a joint venture that will combine the businesses of Viacom18 and Star India.

The October-December GDP is expected to grow at 6.8 per cent, as per SBI Research. The Indian economy grew 7.6 per cent during the July-September quarter of the current financial year 2023-24, remaining the fastest-growing major economy. India's GDP grew 7.8 per cent in the April-June quarter.

Meanwhile, strong macro fundamentals and sustained domestic flows have somewhat supported recent rallies in Indian stocks.

Foreign portfolio investors who have aggressively sold Indian stocks, turning net sellers in the Indian equity market in January 2024, turned net buyers again in February.

The latest data available from the National Securities Depository Limited (NSDL) showed that the FPIs bought stocks worth Rs 2,928 crore, after selling worth Rs 24,734 crore in January.

(ANI)

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