Indian shares ended marginally lower on Thursday, as quarterly results from companies such as Tech Mahindra Ltd weighed, although losses were capped by gains in pharmaceutical shares, including Divi's Laboratories Ltd that rose about 16 percent. The benchmark BSE index closed 0.08 percent lower at 33,573.22, while the broader NSE index ended down 0.16 percent at 10,423.80.
Indian markets had hit record highs in the previous session, on continued optimism after the government's recent decision to inject more funds into state-run lenders. "We've started on slightly uncertain footing, and yesterday's momentum is missing," said Anand James, chief market strategist, Geojit Financial Services.
"We need further cues to keep pushing indexes higher." The broader NSE index was down 0.09 percent at 10,430.60 as of 0613 GMT, after rising marginally to hit a record high in early trade. Tech Mahindra fell as much as 5.7 percent while JSW Energy dropped as much as 4.7 percent.
However, the Nifty Pharma index rose as much as 3.6 percent to its highest since July 24, boosted by Divi's Labs. The US health regulator said it would lift the import alert on the company's at Visakhapatnam unit in southern India and will close the warning letter it issued earlier. Shares of Divi's Laboratories surged as much as 21 percent to their highest since December 22, 2016. State-run lenders continued their uptrend with the Nifty PSU bank index rising 0.9 percent. IDBI Bank Ltd and Indian Bank gained over 3 percent each.
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