BENGALURU: Indian shares fell slightly on Thursday, dragged by pharma and IT stocks, after the minutes of Federal Reserve’s July meeting showed officials saw “little evidence” late last month that US inflation pressures were easing.
The NSE Nifty 50 index was down 0.2% at 17,909.15 as of 0500 GMT while the S&P BSE Sensex traded 0.2% lower at 60,135.59.
“Fed minutes are weighing, but I think India will be an outlier, despite what happens globally,” said AK Prabhakar, head of research at IDBI Capital.
“As momentum builds, such news will not derail Indian markets. Something new has to come,” Prabhakar said.
Indian shares end higher, consumer stocks gain
While not explicitly hinting at a particular pace of coming rate increases, beginning with the Sept. 20-21 meeting, the minutes released on Wednesday showed US central bank policymakers committed to raising rates as high as necessary to tame inflation.
US stocks closed lower on Wednesday, with indexes volatile after the minutes, while MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was down 0.22% on Thursday. Pharma and IT stocks weighed over sentiment in India, but losses were offset by gains in banking and realty stocks.
“IT, pharma, metals have taken a backseat and other sectors have emerged as leaders,” Prabhakar said, adding that banking and NBFC are integral to the recent bull run.
The NSE index has risen 4.5% so far this month, with the Nifty Bank index gaining 4%.
The Nifty Pharma index fell as much as 1.4% on Thursday to its lowest in two weeks. Dr.Reddy’s Laboratories was down 2.6% while Sun Pharmaceutical Industries fell 1.3%.
Meanwhile, SBI Life Insurance and Kotak Mahindra Bank were the top gainers on the NSE index, up 1.6% each.
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