By Bharath Rajeswaran and Kashish Tandon
BENGALURU (Reuters) -Indian shares took a breather on Wednesday after a four-session rally, mirroring the move in other Asian markets, while analysts expect traders to buy the dip through the day.
The NSE Nifty 50 index was off a mere 0.04% at 24,691.42 as of 10:20 a.m. IST, and the S&P BSE Sensex shed 0.02% to 80,784.
The indexes had gained about 2.3% in the past four sessions.
“Prices cannot soar continuously. (A) reversion to mean in domestic equities is the normal trend, with over-valued segments witnessing profit booking,” said VK Vijayakumar, chief investment strategist at Geojit Financial Services.
Despite that, the market presented a compelling investment opportunity, said analysts at Morgan Stanley.
“Relative valuations are expensive versus history, but it is justified by superior profitability and net profit margins and improved macro stability.”
Other Asian markets also paused after a recent rally, triggered by hopes of an imminent rate cut by the U.S. Federal Reserve.
Investors await the minutes of the latest Fed policy meeting and Chair Jerome Powell’s address later this week for clues into the rate cut trajectory. [MKTS/GLOB]
On the day, seven of the 13 major domestic sectors logged losses. The highest weighted financials fell 0.5%.
The broader, more domestically focussed small- and mid-caps rose 0.8% and 0.2%, respectively.
Among individual stocks, Cyient rose 3% after approving the sale of a 14.5% stake in a unit.
Genus Power climbed 5% after winning orders worth 36.09 billion rupees ($430.50 million).
Varun Beverages rose 2.5%, leading consumer stocks 0.5% higher, after BofA Securities termed it the preferred pick in the space due to its healthy earnings momentum. ($1 = 83.8325 Indian rupees)
(Reporting by Bharath Rajeswaran and Kashish Tandon in Bengaluru; Editing by Savio D’Souza)
