By Kashish Tandon and Bharath Rajeswaran
BENGALURU (Reuters) – Indian shares ended lower on Monday, weighed down by IT stocks on U.S. rate cut concerns, easing from record highs hit at the open as markets took a breather after a sharp post-election results rally.
The NSE Nifty 50 index shed 0.13% to 23,259.20, while the S&P BSE Sensex settled 0.27% lower at 76,490.08.
Both the benchmarks rose about 0.5% each at the open and hit record high levels before surrendering gains.
Seven of the 13 major sectors advanced on the day.
The Nifty added 3.4% last week and hit a record high on Friday, recovering from a slump on Tuesday after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s alliance won the general elections by a surprisingly slim majority.
“Markets are taking a breather; we saw a spectacular rally last week, with the Nifty 50 closing about 2,000 points higher from Tuesday’s low, which no one expected,” said Samrat Dasgupta, CEO, Esquire Capital Advisors.
“But expectations of policy continuity are baked in now and the Nifty may consolidate near the current levels,” Dasgupta said.
State-owned lenders rose 0.71%, and while state-run firms added 0.43%.
Analysts at Nomura said the composition of the union cabinet over the weekend indicates policy continuity. Brokerages retained their “overweight” rating on financials, infrastructure, and oil and gas stocks, among others.
Energy and infrastructure stocks climbed about 0.6% each.
Meanwhile, Indian IT firms, which earn a significant share of their revenue from the U.S., lost 1.83% after strong U.S. jobs data fanned worries of delayed rate cuts by the Federal Reserve.
The broader, more domestically-focussed small-caps rose 1.51%, while mid-caps were little changed.
Data on Monday showed small-cap mutual funds garnered higher inflows than mid-, large- and multi-cap funds in May.
“Segments in small-cap end of the market are not so liquid. More money is chasing limited amount of stocks,” Esquire Capital’s Dasgupta, adding that valuation concerns continue to persist in the broader markets.
(Reporting by Kashish Tandon and Bharath Rajeswaran in Bengaluru; Editing by Nivedita Bhattcharjee and Sonia Cheema)
