Indian shares slip on profit booking; Reliance caps losses

BENGALURU: Indian shares ended marginally lower on Friday as investors elected to book profits following a record jump in daily domestic coronavirus cases, while a Reliance Industries rally capped the losses.

The NSE Nifty 50 ended 0.19pc lower at 11,194.15 and the benchmark S&P BSE Sensex closed 0.03pc lower at 38,128.9.

The indexes, however, recorded weekly gains for a fifth straight week, rising 2.63pc and 2.96pc.

Both the Nifty and Sensex have advanced more than 33pc each since India first went into a lockdown in late-March, while COVID-19 cases surged over the same period.

Cases that numbered in hundreds at that time have touched 1.29 million by Friday morning, according to government data Total cases rose by a fresh record of 49,310 from Thursday and the death toll topped 30,000.

Global markets also retreated on Friday as China ordered the United States to close its consulate in Chengdu, in retaliation for being told to shut its consulate in Houston earlier this week.

In Mumbai, the Nifty banking index, which tracks both state-owned and private-sector lenders, slid 1.83pc, while the Nifty metals index fell about 2pc.

The country's biggest lender State Bank of India dropped 3.18pc and Axis Bank shed 3.23pc. Miner Hindalco dropped 3.6pc.

Reliance Industries rose for a sixth day and hit a fresh record high after a media report on Thursday said Amazon was in talks for a potential investment in the conglomerate's retail arm.

The conglomerate's stock, the most valuable in the country, gained as much as 5.1pc on Friday and helped limit losses on the indexes.

IT shares also gained, with the Nifty IT index rising as much as 1.4pc. HCL Technologies climbed 4.15pc.