Indian shares fell for the first time in five sessions on Wednesday after hitting record highs earlier, as caution set in ahead of the release of the minutes from the Reserve Bank of India's policy meeting earlier this month. The BSE index fell 0.18 percent to end at 33,777.38, after earlier touching an all-time high of 33,956.31.
The broader NSE index fell 0.18 percent to end at 10,444.20. It earlier hit a record high of 10,494.45. The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party's victories in Modi's home state of Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh have raised hopes of continued reforms, boosting markets over the last four sessions. But some caution set in ahead of the release of the minutes from the Reserve Bank of India's policy meeting earlier this month in which the policy rate was kept unchanged. The minutes are scheduled to be released after the market closes.
"Going forward, we expect markets to be stable as compared to the volatility we observed over the last few weeks," said Sudhakar Pattabiraman, head of research operations at MarketSmith, which is part of financial services provider William O'Neil. Hindustan Unilever Ltd dropped as much as 1.1 percent, after gaining in the last five sessions, while Axis Bank Ltd was set to snap four straight sessions of gains. Meanwhile, auto stocks continue to gain for a fifth straight session, with Hero Motocorp Ltd and Maruti Suzuki India Ltd rising 2.3 percent and 1.1 percent, respectively.
Shares of Religare Enterprises Ltd rose as much as nearly 5 percent in early trade after Edelweiss Group unit agreed to buy Religare's securities business.