Indian shares logged their first weekly decline in four and shed 0.3 percent on Friday, as foreign funds opted to lock in gains, with investor caution seen rising ahead of the central bank's policy review this month. Top software services exporter Tata Consultancy Services bucked the trend and rallied as much as 4.8 percent, as investors warmed up to its forecast-beating quarterly earnings.
The 30-share BSE index declined 56.28 points to 18,561.92, taking losses for the week to 1.6 percent, with 22 of its components losing ground. It had gained 5.5 percent over the previous three weeks, buoyed by foreign fund inflows of $2.5 billion since June 23. But, the inflows have slowed with data showing foreign institutional investors (FIIs) were sellers in at least one day this week, leading to doubts on their near-term moves. "The near-term outlook is clouded by event risk," said Shankar Char, vice-president and head of sales trading at ICICI Securities.
The 50-share NSE index shed 0.3 percent to 5,581.10 points. ICICI Securities' Char said investor caution was reflected in anaemic volumes, which on the NSE dropped to 445 million shares from the average 90-day daily volume of 580 million shares. Financials led the drop, with the banking sector index shedding 0.3 percent on concerns the central bank may raise rates at its review on July 26 to tame sticky inflation. Leading private-sector lenders ICICI Bank and top mortgage lender Housing Development Finance Corp dropped 0.8 percent and 1.4 percent respectively. Top lender State Bank of India bucked the trend and edged 0.3 percent higher.
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