Indian bluechip indexes fell on Friday and logged weekly losses on worries about corporate earnings, while IT stocks gained after comments from sector-leader TCS indicated early signs of a demand revival.
The Nifty 50 shed 0.4% to 23,431.5 points, while the BSE Sensex declined 0.31% to 77,378.91.
Both the indexes fell about 2.4% this week, snapping a two-week winning streak.
Twelve of the 13 major sectors logged weekly losses. The broader, more domestically focussed smallcaps and midcaps lost about 7.3% and 5.8%, respectively.
The only outlier was the IT sector, which rose 3.4% on the day, helping close the week with a 2% gain.
Indian benchmarks end flat as earnings worries counter gains in Reliance, TCS
The country’s top IT firm Tata Consultancy Services jumped 5.6% on the day, adding 4% for the week – the most among Nifty 50 members – after it said it was betting on Donald Trump’s regime to revive client confidence and discretionary spending in North America, a key market for IT companies.
The concerns about moderation in earnings have intensified after data released earlier in the week signalled a potential growth slowdown in the economy, said G Chokkalingam, founder and head of research at Equinomics Research.
Sustained foreign selling also added fuel to the fire, causing turmoil in the markets, Chokkalingam said.
Foreign portfolio investors have been net sellers in six of the seven sessions in January, with outflows of $2.2 billion.
Private lender IndusInd Bank lost 4.4% on Friday after Goldman Sachs downgraded the stock to “neutral” from “buy”, citing earnings pressure on rising defaults in its commercial retail portfolio.
IndusInd Bank was the top loser in the bank index , which fell 1.6%.
Fast-moving consumer goods company Adani Wilmar fell 10% after the Adani group launched a stake sale in the company to the public at a 15% discount to Thursday’s closing price.
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