By Bharath Rajeswaran
(Reuters) -Indian stocks were muted on Friday, as concerns around corporate earnings and foreign outflows offset gains in information technology stocks after the U.S. Federal Reserve’s widely-anticipated interest rate cut.
The NSE Nifty 50 shed 0.07% to 24,185.7 points as of 10:41 a.m. IST, while the BSE Sensex was down 0.03% at 79,516.74.
Both indexes had opened about 0.4% lower before recouping some losses, helped by gains in IT stocks.
The IT index rose 1.2% and was the top sectoral gainer. Tech Mahindra, Wipro and Infosys were the top three Nifty 50 gainers by percentage, rising between 1.5% and 2%.
The sector was propelled by the Fed’s quarter-point rate cut on Thursday, along with commentary that inflation was nearing its 2% target. IT firms earn a large chunk of their revenue from the U.S., and lower rates tend to encourage client spending.
However, nine of the other 12 major sectors declined, which analysts attributed to dull earnings and sustained foreign outflows over the last 29 sessions.
Oil and gas index lost 1.5%, the worst sectoral performer, dragged by 1.2% drop in Reliance Industries.
The Nifty has lost about 8% from the record high of 26,277.35 hit on Sept. 27.
“The fall in Indian markets has to be seen in the context of second-quarter earnings season which has seen the biggest earnings downgrades since early 2020,” said Chris Wood, head of global equity strategy at Jefferies in his weekly Greed and Fear newsletter.
Among individual stocks, state-owned Steel Authority of India fell 4% after posting a profit drop in the September quarter.
Clothing retailer Trent lost 3.2%, taking its drop to nearly 10% in two sessions after posting its slowest revenue growth in 14 quarters on Thursday.
($1 = 84.3180 Indian rupees)
(Reporting by Bharath Rajeswaran in Bengaluru; Editing by Rashmi Aich, Mrigank Dhaniwala and Varun H K)
