Indian shares end lower as financials, Britannia weigh
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BENGALURU - Indian shares ticked lower on Tuesday, dragged down by weakness in financial stocks and a slide in biscuit maker Britannia Industries following a weak earnings report.
The blue-chip NSE Nifty 50 index closed down 0.13% at 18,044.25, while the benchmark S&P BSE Sensex lost 0.19% to end at 60,433.45.
A clutch of strong earnings reports from mid-cap companies, however, helped the Nifty Midcap 100 Index and the Nifty Midcap 150 Index gain more than 1% each to outperform the main indexes.
After retreating from record highs in October on heavy foreign selling and overvaluation fears, Indian equities have somewhat rebounded this month in part due to positive sentiment during the festive season of Diwali.
Among the top drags on Tuesday, Britannia fell 2.6% after reporting a fall in September-quarter profit and highlighting "unprecedented inflation" in market prices.
The Nifty Financial Services Index lost 0.68%, after gaining in four of the previous five sessions, with heavyweight stocks HDFC Bank and HDFC Ltd shedding more than 1.2% each.
Cushioning the losses, car and tractor maker Mahindra and Mahindra climbed 3.8% and was the biggest percentage gainer on the Nifty 50 after posting a jump in second-quarter profit.
Mahindra also helped the Nifty Auto Index add 1.03% and clock its sixth session of gains in seven.
Among other stocks, Sobha closed up 2.5% after the real estate firm said on Monday its September-quarter profit nearly tripled from a year earlier.
Two- and three-wheeler maker TVS Motor ended 2.7% higher, after gaining as much as 14.3% earlier on a report that it was in talks to raise up to $500 million for its electric-vehicle unit.
