Earnings worries yank Indian shares to third week of losses

Indian shares fell on Friday and logged losses for the third straight week on rising concerns over slowing corporate earnings.

The Nifty 50 fell 0.49% to 23,092.2 on the day, while the BSE Sensex shed 0.43% to 76,190.46. Both indexes swung between gains and losses for most of the session.

The drop on Friday was in contrast to global markets, which were buoyed by the prospect of a softer U.S. stance on tariffs on China and lower interest rates following comments from President Donald Trump.

Meanwhile, investors in India are yet to find a silver lining with regard to the ongoing earnings season, with many analysts calling it a “disappointing” third quarter.

That, coupled with uncertainty over the U.S. trade policy since Trump came to power has loomed over Indian markets, with the benchmarks losing about 0.5% this week.

“Moderation in December-quarter earnings in-line with the modest Street expectations has weighed on market sentiment,” said Sanjeev Hota, vice president and head of research of wealth management at Mirae Asset Sharekhan.

IT stocks lead gains in India’s benchmark indexes

The energy index shed 4.1% this week, dragged by high-weightage Reliance Industries and weaker earnings from oil marketing companies including BPCL and HPCL.

In contrast, the IT index rose 3.6% to be the top sectoral gainer, helped by relatively better corporate earnings and optimism over increasing AI spending in the U.S.

Indian IT companies get a chunk of their revenue from the U.S.

Wipro rose 13.5% to post its best week since Oct. 9, 2020, after beating December-quarter earnings estimates.

State-owned life insurer SBI Life and drug maker Dr. Reddy’s lost about 6.5% each after missing quarterly earning expectations.

The broader smallcaps and midcaps lost 4.1% and 2.5% this week, underperforming the benchmarks.