Indian shares drop as Treasury yields rise, financials drag

Indian shares fell for a second straight session on Friday over worries around rising U.S. Treasury yields and outflows of foreign funds, with losses dominated by financial and IT stocks.

The NSE Nifty 50 index fell 0.95% to 14,938.1 and the S&P BSE Sensex dropped 0.87% to 50,405.32.

The blue-chip indexes still finished the week more than 2.5% higher, thanks to positive economic growth data and progress in the country's COVID-19 vaccination campaign.

Asian and European shares slid following a weaker close on Wall Street overnight as U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell disappointed investors by not indicating that the Fed might step up purchases of long-term bonds to hold down longer-term interest rates.

Gaurav Garg, head of research at CapitalVia Global Research, said rising U.S. bond yields were strengthening chances that foreign investors may pull out some money from emerging markets like India.

Foreign investors had sold a net $308.7 million worth of Indian equities this week up to Thursday, Refinitiv data showed. Heavy buying by these investors in previous months had driven Indian equities to record highs.

Private-sector lenders ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank were the biggest drags on the Nifty 50, declining 1.8% and 1.4%, respectively. The Nifty Bank index lost 1.6%.

Wipro Ltd slid 4.1% after announcing it would buy British consultancy Capco for $1.45 billion, a deal it said would be dilutive to earnings in the first year. Analysts also warned that integration challenges and future impairments could stem from the deal.

Oil and Natural Gas Corp was among the few Nifty companies that gained, advancing 2% on the back of rising oil prices.

Agrochemical maker Heranba Industries Ltd ended up nearly 30% in its market debut following a strong investor response to its $85 million initial public offering last month.

 

(Reporting by Chris Thomas in Bengaluru, additional reporting by Gaurav Dogra; Editing by Vinay Dwivedi)