Indian shares slip from record peaks
- 15 Jan 2021
Indian shares dropped the most in nearly four weeks on Friday, ending down over 1%, as investors locked in profits following the benchmark indexes hitting multiple record highs this week and as a proposed US stimulus package failed to surprise.
The blue-chip NSE Nifty 50 index and the S&P BSE Sensex each fell 1.1% to close at 14,433.70 and 49,034.67, respectively.
The Nifty index rose for a third straight week, while the Sensex gained for an eleventh straight week, each gaining about 0.5%.
US President-elect Joe Biden on Thursday outlined a $1.9 trillion stimulus proposal, saying bold investment was needed to jump-start the economy.
“There were no major surprises from the announcement and it was mostly inline with expectations. Secondly, we are 15 days away from (India’s) budget. We can see some participants taking some money off the table,” said Anand James, chief market strategist at Geojit Financial Services in Kochi.
Banks, financial institutions and information technology stocks were major laggards on the Nifty 50 index and analysts said sub-indexes including the Nifty bank index and the Nifty IT index were vulnerable for corrections after hitting record highs this week.
The Nifty bank index was down 0.84%, while the IT sub-index fell 2.24%.
IT giant Infosys Ltd fell 1.9%, while Housing Development Finance Corp ended down 1.9%. Infosys fell 1.9% this week after gaining over 6% in the past two weeks and HDFC was also down 1.9% after surging nearly 8% in the last two weeks.
Bharti Airtel rose 3.8% after the MSCI Global Standard indexes said on Thursday it would review the weight of the stock in February.
