BENGALURU: India’s two benchmark indexes declined on Monday, dragged by financials and consumer stocks on concerns over their earnings and tracking a fall in global markets ahead of key economic data.
The blue-chip NSE Nifty 50 index fell 0.91% to 21,513, while the S&P BSE Sensex shed 0.93% to 71,355.22.
Financials, which carries the heaviest weightage among the 13 main indexes, lost just over 1%.
Macquarie Research said it expects banks’ earnings growth to slow down next fiscal due to moderating credit growth, declining margins and normalising credit costs.
The brokerage downgraded Bank of Baroda and State Bank of India (SBI), which fell 4.77% and 2.33%, respectively. SBI was the third-biggest loser on the Nifty.
India’s Nifty 50 off to muted start ahead of data, earnings
Asian markets dropped about 1%, while European shares were subdued ahead of U.S. inflation data, due later this week, which will give further cues on the path of U.S. monetary policy.
Besides that, India’s retail inflation and industrial production data – both on Friday – and corporate earnings will serve as major market triggers in the near term, said Narendra Solanki of Anand Rathi Shares and Stock Brokers and Saurabh Jain of SMC Global Securities.
Consumer stocks lost 1.72%. Key constituents Marico and Godrej Consumer Products led the declines after they said revenue declined in the December quarter due to weak demand from rural regions.
Small- and mid-caps lost 0.62% and 1.06%, respectively, on the day.
Large-caps are likely to outperform small- and mid-caps, reversing last year’s trend, said Gaurav Dua, senior vice president and head of capital market strategy at Sharekhan by BNP Paribas.
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