Indian shares at two-month low

Indian shares declined 1.7 percent to their lowest close in more than two months on Friday, after posting their second straight weekly decline, with dwindling foreign fund inflow hinting the rally may have run out of steam. Energy major Reliance Industries topped the losses, while SKS Microfinance rebounded after tumbling on Thursday.
The 30-share BSE index closed 1.73 percent, or 345.20 points, lower at 19,585.44 points, its lowest close since September 16. Declining shares were more than three times advancing ones in the broader market, in a volume of 392 million shares, 6 percent lower than the 30-day average volume.
The index fell 2.8 percent this week, but is still up more than 12 percent year-to-date, backed by foreign portfolio investment of $28.5 billion in Indian primary and secondary equities. But foreign fund interest has slowed down this week, raising concerns if it was time to start booking gains. "We are going through a correction in the middle of an intermediate uptrend,' said Nandip Vaidya, president of brokerage IIFL.
"More clarity from overseas has to emerge for a better picture of the market in the near term," he added. In comparison, Brazil's Bovespa and Russia's RTS Index have gained 3.2 percent and 11.1 percent, respectively, year-to-date. China Shanghai Composite Index declined 11.9 percent.
The 50-share NSE index, or Nifty, dropped 1.8 percent to 5,890.30 points on Friday. Energy giant Reliance Industries, which has the maximum weighting on the 30-share main index, fell 3.5 percent due to lack of near-term positive triggers, dealers said.
The stock has been a laggard this year and is down 8.5 percent in 2010. Financials declined as investors opted to lock in profits after the sharp surge year-to-date. The banking sector index shed 2.1 percent, but is still up 36.6 percent in 2010. Leading lenders State Bank of India, ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank dropped between 1.4 percent and 2.4 percent. SKS Microfinance rose as much as 10 percent, when its chairman told a local television channel the company has not seen any banks withdrawing support despite a clamp down by a state on industry collection practices.