Indian share prices fell 0.57 percent on Friday, snapping six straight days of gain as investors locked-in profits, dealers said. They said the markets quickly shed early morning gains and slid from a fresh all-time peak Friday of 13,678.04 for the Sensex, as banking, automobile and software stocks fell.
The 30-share Sensex index fell 76.41 points or 0.57 percent to 13,429.48, after having risen nearly 3.5 percent in the past week and by almost 43 percent since the start of the year as foreign funds pumped in 7.86 billion dollars into Indian equities. The Sensex closed Thursday at a record 13,505.89.
Thermal power and engineering stocks rose in early trade after the US Senate passed a landmark civilian nuclear deal with India Thursday as a strategic move to boost ties. State-run National Thermal Power Corp (NTPC) rose four rupees or three percent to 139.05 rupees.
"The markets showed signs of weakening in recent days, recording narrow closing gains. The corrective phase for the markets could have begun and this trend may continue into early next week," said Anand Dalal, director with Ashwin Chinubhai Brokers.