Indian share prices fell 0.22 percent on Friday in choppy trade, snapping three days of gains as investors locked-in profits as the markets edged towards record levels, dealers said. They said the markets ignored India's inflation data, which fell to its lowest level in more than a year, official data, showed.
The 30-share Sensex index fell 31.88 points to 14,467.36. "After a short rally, the markets corrected marginally with strong bouts of buying and selling," said Hiten Mehta, a fund manager with Fortune Financial Services. Banking stocks continued to gain Friday on demand in the mega-ICICI initial share sale offering, which closes Friday.
The local portion of ICICI Bank's 4.3 billion-dollar share sale was oversubscribed by over five times by the fourth day, bankers said, indicating strong demand from funds. India's inflation stood at 4.28 percent for the week ended June 9, down from 4.80 percent last week, data showed Friday.