Indian shares end lower as banks drag

BENGALURU: Indian shares closed lower on Wednesday, weighed down by banking stocks, though shares of the country’s biggest lender State Bank of India hit an all-time high after reporting a record quarterly profit.

The blue-chip NSE Nifty 50 index closed 0.33% lower at 17,829.20, while the benchmark S&P BSE Sensex fell 0.43% to end at 59,771.92.

Despite Wednesday’s losses, both indexes clocked gains of about 0.8% each for the holiday-shortened week, rebounding from last week’s sharp falls triggered by overvaluation concerns and heavy foreign selling.