Indian shares fell on Friday, led by metal stocks and petrochemicals maker Reliance Industries Ltd, on worries that an expected slowdown in Chinese demand could put pressure on their earnings.
The Mumbai share index, however, shed 0.76 percent to 5,672.27 points, after rising 2.4 percent over three sessions.
Traders said metal stocks were weighed down by worries about a reversal in a firm trend in prices after China raised interest rates to cool its heated economy. Global commodity prices have been driven higher mainly by the huge demand from China.
Steel Authority of India Ltd, the nation's top steel maker, fell 1.5 percent while Tata Iron and Steel Company Ltd, the No. 2 producer, dropped 2.4 percent.
Both fell despite robust earnings reported on Friday. SAIL's July-September net profit trebled on the year to 15.13 billion rupees while TISCO's earnings more than doubled to 9.29 billion.
Reliance fell 1.9 percent on fears petrochemical prices will also suffer as China tries to grow at a more sustainable pace.
Oil is India's largest import, and lower commodity and oil prices fed hopes that India's inflation would ease, reducing pressures on interest rates to rise and helping bond yields recoil from Thursday's two-year peaks.
The benchmark 10-year yield fell to 6.8533 from Thursday's 6.9319 percent.
Comments
Comments are closed.