Indian shares opened marginally lower on Friday, dragged by financials while the country’s top software company Tata Consultancy Services reversed losses after reporting a quarterly profit miss.
The Nifty 50 index was down 0.07% at 24,982 points as of 9:28 a.m. IST, while the S&P BSE Sensex shed 0.16% to 81,478.49.
The Nifty 50 has witnessed profit-booking over the past two weeks, logging losses in seven of nine sessions, and has dropped about 5% from a record high scaled on Sept. 27.
Financials and banks fell 0.5% each, after gaining about 1% each in the previous session.
TCS opened 2% lower after its September-quarter profit miss, but reversed losses to trade 0.1% higher. Its results signalled weakness in demand recovery and a rare drop in margins while the near-term outlook remained tepid, leading to downward earnings revisions by several brokerages.
Bandhan Bank rose 7% and was on track for its best session in 10 weeks, after the Reserve Bank of India approved the appointment of veteran banker Partha Sengupta as the lender’s managing director and chief executive.
Indian shares trim gains as IT weighs ahead of TCS earnings; US CPI awaited
“The appointment is a positive as Sengupta was earlier the deputy managing director and chief credit officer at India’s top state-owned lender State Bank of India and also as MD and CEO of Indian Overseas Bank,” Jefferies said. Wall Street equities dropped after data showed US consumer prices rose slightly more than expected in September.
Asian markets traded higher, ahead of China’s fresh fiscal stimulus package expected to be unveiled over the weekend.
Source: Brecorder
