By Bharath Rajeswaran
(Reuters) -India’s equity benchmarks closed flat on Friday but fell for the week as foreign outflows outweighed optimism over corporate earnings and India–U.S. trade talks.
U.S. President Donald Trump said on Thursday that his talks with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi were going well and that he planned to visit the country soon.
Still, foreign investors offloaded 98.45 billion rupees ($1.12 billion) of Indian shares over the last three sessions after their purchases hit a five-month high in October, helping the 4.5% surge in the benchmark indexes.
On Friday, the Nifty 50 fell 0.07% to 25,492.30, while the BSE Sensex slipped 0.11% to 83,216.28 points. Both the indexes dropped 0.9% this week.
“Markets are likely to consolidate in the near term after the October rally,” said Raghvendra Nath, managing director at Ladderup Asset Managers.
“Investors are now looking for strong catalysts — whether in the form of continued positive earnings surprises, renewed foreign inflows or clarity on trade uncertainties that have kept sentiment cautious.”
Twelve of the 16 major sectoral indexes ended the week lower. The broader small-caps fell 1.7% while mid-caps were little changed.
For the week, consumer durables slid 2.6%, the steepest sectoral drop by percentage. The shares were dragged by weak results from Amber Enterprises and Whirlpool of India.
Public-sector banks advanced 2.1%, the top weekly gainers, lifted by State Bank of India after an earnings beat and upgrade to its full-year loan growth target.
Grasim Industries fell 6.6% during the week as the resignation of its paints division chief sparked concerns over business momentum.
Asian Paints rose 4.1%, buoyed by an MSCI index weight increase, a Nomura rating upgrade, and easing fears of disruption in the paints sector.
Automaker Mahindra & Mahindra added 5.8% on a quarterly profit uptick and a $77 million stake sale in RBL Bank.
On the day, Bharti Airtel slipped 4.5% after Singtel sold a 0.8% stake worth $1.2 billion.
(Reporting by Bharath Rajeswaran in Bengaluru, editing by Mrigank Dhaniwala)
