Indian shares inch lower as losses in IT services stocks weigh

Simran Farms

07/01/2021 10:36

By Anuron Kumar Mitra
    BENGALURU, Jan 7 (Reuters) - Indian shares ended slightly
lower on Thursday, as gains in telecom operator Bharti Airtel
and lender Axis Bank were offset by losses in IT services
stocks, a day before IT major Tata Consultancy Services kicks
off third-quarter earnings season.
    The blue-chip NSE Nifty 50 index  .NSEI  fell 0.06% to
14,137.35, while the benchmark S&P BSE Sensex  .BSESN  shed
0.17% to close at 48,093.32.
    Both indexes hit record highs in the first four trading
sessions of the new year, helped by continued foreign fund
inflows and progress on COVID-19 vaccines. Foreign investors
pumped more than $20 billion into Indian equities last year,
according to Refinitiv Eikon data.
    "Markets are right now very much overbought and there is
some profit booking today," said Rahul Sharma, market strategist
and head of research at Equity99 markets. 
    "Nifty at this point of time has strong support near the
14,100 level," he added.
    Bharti Airtel  BRTI.NS  closed 3.8% higher and was the
biggest boost to the Nifty. The government's telecommunications
department invited https://bit.ly/3bhHWhi bids on Wednesday for
auction of airwaves across seven bands ranging from 700 MHz to
2500 MHz.
    The Nifty Bank Index  .NSEBANK  rose 0.5%, with Axis Bank
 AXBK.NS  among the top boosts to the Nifty 50. Lenders Yes Bank
 YESB.NS , HDFC Bank  HDBK.NS  and Bandhan Bank  BANH.NS  this
week reported higher loans and advances as of Dec. 31, 2020.
    The Nifty IT index  .NIFTYIT  fell 0.66%, with Tata
Consultancy Services  TCS.NS  shedding 0.6% ahead of its
third-quarter earnings report scheduled on Friday.
    Sobha Ltd  SOBH.NS  gained 7.7% after the real estate
company said its third-quarter total sales value jumped 22.3% to
8.88 billion rupees.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nFWN2JG0TA
    The MSCI world equity index  .MIWD00000PUS  rose 0.3%, as
investors looked past violence in Washington and bet on a large
U.S. fiscal stimulus package after Democrat victories in Senate
runoffs in Georgia.  MKTS/GLOB 
    

 (Reporting by Anuron Kumar Mitra in Bengaluru; Editing by
Krishna Chandra Eluri)
 ((AnuronKumar.Mitra@thomsonreuters.com; +91 99863 58469;))