IGI Logo

Indian shares settled marginally lower on Friday as investors booked profits at the end of a week that saw the blue-chip indexes hit record highs every day.

The benchmark Nifty 50 ended 0.07% lower at 26,197.75 points, while the BSE Sensex dropped 0.3% to 85,571.85. The indexes rose 1.5% and 1.2%, respectively, in their third straight week of gains.

An outsized U.S. rate cut last Wednesday has bolstered foreign flows into emerging markets and lifted Indian benchmarks to record highs for seven consecutive sessions.

Heavyweight financial stocks, which have risen more than 2% since the U.S. rate cut, dropped nearly 1% on Friday. Top lender HDFC Bank and its private sector peer ICICI Bank both fell 1.7%.

"Investors are booking profits in stocks that saw gains in the record run and are buying stocks that remained muted, with no immediate triggers visible in the short-term," Narendra Solanki, head of fundamental research at Anand Rathi, said.

IT companies, which earn a big chunk of their revenue from U.S. clients, rose 0.4% after U.S.-listed peer Accenture posted better-than-expected quarterly earnings due to strong demand for its AI services.

Tata Consultancy Services, Infosys, Wipro and HCLTech were up between 0.3% and 1.4%.

Drugmaker Cipla climbed 3% to be the top gainer on the Nifty 50 after UBS initiated coverage with a 'buy' rating and a target price 27% higher than its closing price on Thursday.

For the week, metal stocks gained more than 7% in their biggest weekly rise since December 2022, outperforming other major indexes.

Metal stocks were supported by strong metal prices on hopes the new Chinese stimulus measures will boost its economy and global demand and lead to a decline in the dumping of steel products in countries like India. [MET/L]

Ten of the 13 major sectoral indexes logged weekly gains.

($1 = 83.6210 Indian rupees)