Indian shares pause rally as some banks, Reliance fall after run-up

BENGALURU: Indian shares paused on Wednesday after two days of sharp gains as energy and financial stocks ceded ground, while Asian peers retreated over concerns of an uptick in US inflation.

Both the NSE Nifty 50 index and the S&P BSE Sensex swung between gains and losses in morning trade, after gaining roughly 3% each in the first two days of the week.

By 0505 GMT, the Nifty 50 was down 0.11% at 15,086.45 and the Sensex was 0.21% lower at 50,077.17, also weighed down by concerns over record COVID-19 deaths for a second consecutive day.

Asian shares dipped following a weak close on Wall Street because of uncertainties over inflation.

The pressure on global markets is keeping domestic investors cautious, said Anand James, chief market strategist at Geojit Financial Services in Kochi.

"We've only now beginning to respond to this (inflation worries) as a point of concern," James said.

ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank fell 0.9% each as investors sold off recent winners. Both were the top boosts to the Nifty on Monday and Tuesday, and are still up about 5% for the week.

Carmaker Tata Motors slipped 5% and was the top loser on the Nifty after it warned of a bumpy ride ahead.

Auto stocks fell the most among sectoral indexes, slipping more than 1% after a 3.2% jump on Tuesday.

Index heavyweight Reliance Industries dipped 0.5% after rising more than 1% in the previous three sessions.

IT stocks, however, extended gains into a third session, rising 1.2% and limiting some losses in the benchmark indexes.

Nifty component Indian Oil Corp gave up early gains to trade flat ahead of its quarterly results.