Indian shares close lower after struggling for direction; IT gains cap losses
- Nifty 50 eased 0.01% to 25,815.55 points and the BSE Sensex lost 0.09% to 84,481.81
Indian equity benchmarks struggled for direction on Thursday before closing lower for a fourth straight session, as lack of fresh triggers kept investors cautious, while gains in information technology stocks capped broader market losses.
The Nifty 50 eased 0.01% to 25,815.55 points and the BSE Sensex lost 0.09% to 84,481.81.
The benchmark indexes are down 0.9% in four sessions.
Eleven of the 16 major sectors fell, while the broader mid-caps and small-caps added 0.3% and 0.1%, respectively.
A rebound in rupee kept markets in the green for most of the session on Thursday before the benchmarks gave up gains in the last hour.
Investors are waiting for U.S. inflation data later today, which could be key to assessing the Federal Reserve’s future interest rate action.
V.K. Vijayakumar, chief investment strategist at Geojit Investments said the market drifted down in the previous session on Wednesday despite foreign investor buying, which could be due to an increase in short positions.
“This means, in the near-term, foreign investors will resort to a sell-on-rally strategy,” he said.
IT stocks rose 1.2% and were the biggest gainers among major sectors on Thursday. India’s largest IT company, Tata Consultancy Services, added 2% after it outlined a strategy to become the world’s largest artificial
intelligence-led tech services firm.
IndiGo jumped 2.7% after its CEO said the worst was behind for India’s largest airline, following cancellation of thousands of flights due to poor pilot roster planning.
Tata Motors jumped 3.7% after J.P.Morgan initiated coverage on the commercial vehicles maker with “Overweight”.
Shares of asset management and brokerage firms jumped after the capital markets regulator eased mutual fund fee rules.
Sun Pharmaceutical Industries dropped 2.6% after U.S. drug regulator classified its Baska facility as “Official Action Indicated”, which Citi said can substantially delay new product approvals from the facility.
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