Indian shares snap multi-day rally as banks, metal stocks slip

BENGALURU: Indian shares retreated from record highs on Wednesday and snapped a multi-day winning streak, as banking and metal stocks outweighed advances in consumer names including liquor makers.

The blue-chip NSE Nifty 50 index closed 0.28% lower at 16,568.85 after seven straight sessions of gains, while the benchmark S&P BSE Sensex ended down 0.38% at 55,582.10, snapping a four-day rally.

Earlier in the day, the Sensex crossed the 56,000 mark for the first time ever and the Nifty 50 breached the 16,700 level.

"Largely, stocks that did not participate in the earlier rally started participating towards midday," said Saurabh Jain, assistant vice president research at SMC Global Securities.

"Markets have their own mind," he said, adding a bout of volatility could not be ruled out and that there would continue to be troughs in the path of recovery.

The Nifty bank index reversed gains to end 0.87% lower, dragged by ICICI Bank and Kotak Mahindra which offset early gains in heavyweight HDFC Bank .

Shares of HDFC Bank jumped as much as 3.35% after the central bank allowed the bank to issue new credit cards. However, they ended 0.11% lower.

Indian shares flat on cautious Asian markets; SpiceJet dives

The Nifty metal index ended 0.81% down. Vedanta Ltd and Hindalco Industries were among the top losers, down 2.39% and 2.21% respectively.

IT and consumer stocks bucked the trend to settle higher. Shares of tech firm MindTree ended up 5.93%, taking the IT index higher 0.10%.

The Nifty FMCG index ended up 0.69%, led by a rally in liquor makers. United Breweries climbed 6.28%, while United Spirits hit an 18-month high before ending up 9.73%.