BENGALURU (Reuters) -Indian shares erased gains, tracking a slide in financials as investors booked profits after strong third-quarter earnings ahead of the federal budget due next week, offsetting the advance in technology and auto stocks.
The Nifty 50 index was down 0.1% at 18,101.20 as of 2:31 p.m. IST on Tuesday, while the S&P BSE Sensex fell 0.02% to 60,927.03.
Both benchmarks had risen 0.5% each during the session.
Their intraday trajectory followed the high-weightage financials, down 0.12% as of 2:12 p.m., reversing gains of 0.6% during the session.
Private lender Axis Bank Ltd fell over 2.5% despite posting a stronger-than-expected jump in third-quarter profit on Monday.
The stock had logged gains in each of the last five sessions ahead of its results, adding 2.14%.
“The third-quarter earnings from financials have been strong. Fundamentally, there is nothing wrong with the space,” said Narendra Solanki, head – fundamental research at Anand Rathi Shares and Stock Brokers.
“The volatility is driven by investors taking profit from financials as the strong earnings have been priced in,” Solanki added.
Markets will likely see further consolidation ahead of the union budget, which could involve higher allocation for social sector programmes, analysts added.
The Nifty 50 would continue to trade in a 450-point range between 17,800 and 18,250 ahead of the union budget, due to high valuations and foreign selling, said Siddhartha Khemka, head of research (retail) at Motilal Oswal Financial Services.
Among major sectoral indexes, auto rose 1.2% after strong third-quarter numbers from Maruti Suzuki lifted the auto sector, while IT rose 0.8% after companies said they bagged more deals despite softness in Europe.
($1 = 81.4830 Indian rupees)
(Reporting by Bharath Rajeswaran and Rama Venkat in Bengaluru; Editing by Nivedita Bhattacharjee and Janane Venkatraman)
