By Bharath Rajeswaran and Manvi Pant
BENGALURU (Reuters) -India’s benchmark indexes were subdued on Friday as a slump in Bajaj Finance shares after a weak FY25 outlook dragged financials, outweighing gains in IT stocks.
The NSE Nifty 50 was down 0.21% at 22,522.60 as of 11:15 a.m. IST, while the S&P BSE Sensex shed 0.26% to 74,153.83.
Both the indexes opened about 0.25% higher before swinging between gains and losses.
The blue-chip indexes have gained about 1.7% this week so far, on course for their best week since early February.
“Indian markets are benefitting from healthy macroeconomic growth and resilient (than expected) quarterly results from corporates so far in the March quarter,” said Anil Rego, founder and fund manager at Right Horizons.
Non-bank lender Bajaj Finance dropped 7.25% after its quarterly results, to become the top Nifty 50 loser, dragging the highest-weighted financial services index 0.6% lower.
“We estimate Bajaj Finance’s loan growth to moderate in fiscal year 2025, reflecting macro trends and due to Reserve Bank of India’s restrictions on two of its lending products,” said Jefferies.
The IT index rose about 1.7%, the most among the major sectors. Tech Mahindra surged 9% and was the top Nifty 50 gainer after the company announced a three-year business plan.
“The company’s new turnaround plan looks sensible,” analysts at HSBC said, terming Tech Mahindra’s valuation “attractive” in comparison with that of its peers.
“While the near-term outlook for IT sector remains dampened due to weakness in client spending, fiscal year 2025 will be better, due to likely demand pick-up for digital transformation and artificial intelligence solutions,” said Right Horizons’ Rego.
The broader, more domestically-focussed small- and mid-caps rose about 0.75%, outperforming the benchmarks.
IT companies Mphasis and Zensar Technologies rose 5% and 9%, after reporting March-quarter results. They were the top gainers in the small- and mid-cap indexes, respectively.
(Reporting by Bharath Rajeswaran and Manvi Pant in Bengaluru; Editing by Savio D’Souza, Mrigank Dhaniwala and Sonia Cheema)
