IGI Logo

Indian shares ended lower on Thursday and snapped a five-month winning streak, weighed down by the continued drop in financials and consumer stocks and as foreign investments moderated.

The Nifty 50 closed down 0.48% at 19,253.80, while the S&P BSE Sensex finished 0.39% lower at 64,831.41.

The Nifty has lost 2.53% in August after gaining 14.16% from March to July, while the Sensex dropped 2.55% in August after rising 12.83% in the previous five months.

"The benchmark is likely to remain in consolidation mode on moderation in foreign inflows after a sharp uptick over the last five months," said Siddhartha Khemka, head of retail research at Motilal Oswal Financial Services.

Foreign inflows hit a four-month low of 122.52 billion rupees ($1.48 billion) in August.

Financials, the heaviest weighted among the 13 major sectors, fell 0.53% on the day and 3.66% for the month.

Analysts say the drop was due to the central bank's move to ask lenders to set aside a larger part of incremental deposits under the cash reserve ratio (CRR) to mop up excess liquidity.

HDFC Bank, the highest weighted Nifty constituent, fell 0.46% on the day and 3.40% for August.

Consumer stocks slid again, led by a 0.70% drop in ITC, on persistent worries over lower-than-expected monsoon rains in August. They have lost 1.81% after falling in four of the last five sessions.

On the bright side, the U.S. rate-sensitive IT stocks rose 0.20% as fresh data bolstered bets that the Federal Reserve's rate-hiking cycle was over.

The losers included Adani Enterprises and Adani Ports, down over 3% each, after a report by a non-profit media organisation said the Adani family's partners used "opaque" funds to invest in the group stocks. The group rejected the report.

The domestically focused small-caps and mid-caps continued to outperform the blue-chips, driven by strong retail inflows.

Data after the bell is expected to show India's economic growth likely accelerated to 7.7% in the first quarter. ($1 = 82.7635 Indian rupees)