Indian shares snapped a four-session winning streak and closed 0.7 percent lower on Tuesday, as export-driven outsourcers fell on worries the firm rupee could squeeze their margins. The 30-share BSE Sensex closed 0.68 percent, or 121.18 points, lower at 17,590.17 points, with nineteen of its components closing in the red.
IT bellwether Infosys Technologies dropped 2.6 percent, while rivals Tata Consultancy Services and Wipro shed 1.3 percent and 1.9 percent, respectively. The banking sector index dropped 0.6 percent after rising 3.7 percent over the four previous sessions.
Top lender State Bank of India and private lender HDFC Bank declined 0.6 percent and 3 percent, respectively. Mortgage lender Housing Development Finance Corp shed 1 percent. The main index had scaled 25-month highs on Monday. Neeraj Dewan, director of Quantum Securities, expects the market to consolidate in the near term.
Foreign funds have pumped around $3.9 billion in Indian equities so far this year, most of which arrived in March. The main index is up about 7.1 percent in the current month. Energy giant Reliance Industries, which has the highest weight on the Sensex, dropped 0.6 percent.
India's top mobile operator Bharti Airtel closed barely changed. The company's $9 billion expansion into Africa faced a potential new hurdle on Monday as the government of Gabon raised a regulatory objection to the deal. In the broader market, gainers led losers in a ratio of 1.5:1 volume of 375 million shares, lower than Monday's volume. The 50-share NSE index closed 0.8 percent lower at 5,262.45 points.