Indian shares snap six days of gains as financials weigh

BENGALURU: India shares snapped a more than 1,000-point rally over the last six sessions to close lower on Thursday, with losses in financials outweighing gains in information technology and metal stocks.

The NSE Nifty 50 bluechip index ended down 0.32pc at 10,029.10, while the S&P BSE Sensex slipped 0.38pc to 33,980.70.

The Nifty 50 has risen 4.7pc so far this week, after a similar rally last week.

"The surge in the past few sessions was pretty high and we can expect some more consolidation in the near term," said Vinod Nair, head of research, Geojit Financial Services Ltd.

"We are also in the last phase of fourth quarter results, for which the outlook is also not positive. This is a small correction in the bear rally and will continue for some time."

The Nifty banking index fell 2.63pc, but was still up 5.7pc for the week, following a 11.7pc surge last week.

Among stocks, Housing Development Finance Corp Ltd and HDFC Bank Ltd were the top drags on the Nifty 50 index, ending down 3.89pc and 2.01pc, respectively.

A drop in the Nifty Realty index added to the overall losses. Commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal asked developers on Wednesday to cut prices and offload inventory instead of waiting for the market to recover.

Meanwhile, the Nifty IT index closed 1.85pc higher, while the metals index gained 1pc. Vedanta Ltd was the top gainer in Nifty 50 index, ending up nearly 8pc.