By Rama Venkat
BENGALURU (Reuters) -Indian shares ended lower for a sixth straight session on Friday, reversing from earlier gains as poor earnings from top lender State Bank of India offset a jump in Tata Motors.
The NSE Nifty 50 index closed 0.16% lower at 15,782.15 and the S&P BSE Sensex fell 0.26% to 52,793.62, having risen more than 1% earlier in the session.
The indexes logged their fifth straight week of losses, the longest weekly losing streak since 2020.
Sentiment was also weighed down by higher oil prices, which pressure the trade and current account deficits of India – the world’s third-largest importer and consumer of oil. [O/R]
“We are continuing to see foreign investors selling and the market bounce back today had given some investors an opportunity to sell at a better price and crude prices have moved up, so sentiment for India is still negative,” said Neeraj Dewan, director at Quantum Securities.
Foreign investors sold $1.81 billion worth Indian equities this week, compared with outflows of worth $635 million in the previous week.
The market is unlikely to see a sustained rebound unless there is some improvement on the macro front, such as inflation or crude prices, Dewan said.
Data on Thursday showed India’s annual retail inflation rose by a more-than-expected 7.79% in April, staying above the central bank’s tolerance band of 6% for a fourth straight month.
Conglomerate Reliance Industries – India’s most valuable company – closed 1.1% higher to snap a nine-day losing streak.
Bajaj Finance and Bajaj Finserv were among the top drags on the Nifty 50, falling 1.4% and 1.9%, respectively.
State Bank of India ended down 3.9% after touching a two-month low due to a weaker-than-expected profit for the fourth quarter.
The Nifty’s auto index advanced the most among Nifty sub-indexes, closing up 2.4%. The jump was led by an 8.6% rise in Tata Motors Ltd after it reported a smaller quarterly loss late on Thursday.
(Reporting by Rama Venkat in Bengaluru; Editing by Aditya Soni)
