March 11 (Reuters) - Indian shares may open little changed on Wednesday after a brief pullback in oil prices, in a volatile week for global markets as mixed signals over the U.S.-Israel war on Iran left investors unsure about its impact on inflation and growth.
GIFT Nifty futures GIFc1 were trading at 24,303.50 at 08:11 a.m. IST, indicating the Nifty 50 .NSEI will open near Tuesday's close of 24,261.60.
The crisis in the Middle East kept investors on edge, as the United States and Israel launched what some described as the war's heaviest strikes on Iran, even as U.S. President Donald Trump said on Monday that the conflict could be "over soon."
Meanwhile, oil saw a short-lived pullback after the Wall Street Journal reported that the International Energy Agency has proposed a record release of oil reserves to curb crude prices, offering some relief to bruised global stocks.
Back home, the Nifty 50 and Sensex .BSESN have lost about 5% each since the start of the Middle East conflict.
Both benchmarks rebounded in the previous session on easing oil prices, a day after suffering their biggest decline in a year and ending near one-year lows amid the widening turmoil.
Meanwhile, global equities found some reprieve, with MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan .MIAPJ0000PUS up 1.6%, the Nikkei .N225 rising 2.1% and South Korea's Kospi .KS11 advancing 3.2%. MKTS/GLOB
Brent crude futures LCOc1 swung between gains and losses to trade 0.2% higher at $87.89 per barrel, while U.S. crude CLc1 was little changed at $83.47 a barrel, having initially fallen on the IEA news.
Foreign institutional investors sold Indian shares worth 46.85 billion rupees ($510.1 million) on Tuesday, while domestic investors bought 62.50 billion rupees, per provisional NSE data.
STOCKS TO WATCH
** IndiGo INGL.NS said Pieter Elbers has resigned as the budget carrier's chief executive officer
** Polycab India POLC.NS said the Income Tax Department has reduced its tax demand to 575.8 million rupees from 3.27 billion rupees
** Infosys INFY.NS enters a strategic collaboration with Incora to expand the use of artificial intelligence across the latter's global supply chain operations
($1 = 91.8480 Indian rupees)
(Reporting by Kashish Tandon in Bengaluru; Editing by Sumana Nandy)
((kashish.tandon@thomsonreuters.com;))