Indian shares end lower as earnings momentum stalls, virus cases spike

BENGALURU: Indian shares snapped a five-session rally on Wednesday, dragged by auto stocks, as corporate earnings failed to impress and domestic coronavirus cases surged further.

The NSE Nifty 50 index, up 1.27pc last week after a series of surprisingly upbeat reports from some of the country's biggest companies, fell 0.27pc to 11,132.60.

The S&P BSE Sensex declined 0.16pc to 37,871.52.

Motorcycle maker Bajaj Auto reported a slump in profit for the three months to June, sending its shares down as much as 3.25pc and dragging the Nifty auto index 1.2pc lower.

Larger rival Hero Motocorp was the top loser among Nifty stocks with a 3.3pc fall, while carmaker Tata Motors skid about 2.8pc.

TV18 Broadcasting, which reported a fall in quarterly profit, dropped as much as 9pc after its results, while its sibling company Network18 Media shed about 4.9pc after posting a loss.

Industrial conglomerate Larsen and Toubro was down 1.7pc ahead of its quarterly earnings scheduled for release later in the day.

Consumer goods giant Hindustan Unilever, which reported a first-quarter profit that missed expectations on Tuesday, declined 2.9pc.

Coronavirus cases in the world's second-most populous nation rose to nearly 1.2 million by Wednesday morning, according to government data, alarming investors as the outbreak hit production in many sectors and squeezed demand.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday sought to assuage concerns around an economic slump stemming from the pandemic and said the government has "kept all options open" to help industries hit by the crisis.

Globally, cases crossed 15 million, with US President Donald Trump warning that the pandemic would get worse before it got better.

Among gainers in Mumbai was Axis bank, which rose as much as 7.13pc after reporting better asset quality for the quarter to June and a fall in bad-loan provisioning on Tuesday.

The Nifty private-sector lenders index gained 0.66pc.