By Bharath Rajeswaran
(Reuters) -India’s equity benchmarks ended flat after a volatile Friday, as investors booked gains in consumer stocks and a slide in information technology shares offset broader advances.
Both indexes still posted weekly gains, led by autos after tax cuts.
The NSE Nifty 50 rose 0.03% to 24,741 and the BSE Sensex lost 0.01% to 80,710.76, swinging between 0.4% gains and 0.5%losses.
For the week, they added 1.3% and 1.1% respectively after the GST Council cut levies on everyday goods.
Autos jumped 5.5% as tax rates on small cars, motorcycles, buses, trucks, and ambulances were lowered to 18% from 28%.
Mahindra & Mahindra surged 11.3%, notching its best week in 15 months and emerging as the top Nifty gainer.
Excluding IT, which dropped 1.6% for the week, all 15 sectoral indexes logged gains.
Metals climbed 5.8% on hopes of benefits from China’s planned steel capacity cuts, while consumption and consumer durables rose 2.6% and 3.2%, supported by GST relief.
Broader small-caps and mid-caps gained about 2.5% each.
“The GST rate cut, along with supportive factors such as a good monsoon, benign inflation, sets the stage for stronger demand momentum as we enter the festive season,” said Mahesh Patil, chief investment officer at Aditya Birla Sun Life AMC.
“While the market awaits clarity on the trade front, these reforms mark a strong step towards reviving investor sentiment.”
On the day, early gains in benchmarks were erased by a 1.5% slide in IT, following speculation the U.S.
may consider tariffs on Indian IT services, which spurred panic selling and also dragged the rupee to a record low.
Consumer stocks, which rose 2.7% over the past five sessions, slipped 1.4% on Friday, dragged by 2.1% drop in ITC on reports the government may impose a new levy on tobacco products once the 40% GST compensation cess expires.
(Reporting by Bharath Rajeswaran in Bengaluru; Editing by Sumana Nandy, Nivedita Bhattacharjee and Sonia Cheema)
