Mumbai: The broader Nifty fell on Friday after hitting a record high for a third straight day as investors took profits in blue-chips such as ICICI Bank, while IT outsourcing firms declined after Wipro's US dollar revenue growth lagged rivals.
The stock markets also tracked global shares; lower after a week of largely reassuring economic signals but rising political tensions. Sentiment was also hit as foreign portfolio investors sold 2.80 billion rupees of Indian index futures and options contracts on Thursday.
In the near term, the markets would be driven by the ongoing earnings season, with Larsen & Toubro, ICICI Bank and Maruti Suzuki India reporting results in the coming week and the Reserve Bank of India's policy review on August 5. "Risk reward has become slightly unfavourable. Correction is part of the course. But, it's still a buy-on-dips market," said Jagannadham Thunuguntla, chief strategist and head of research at brokerage SMC Global Securities.
The broader Nifty fell 0.51 per cent, or 40.15 points, to end at 7,790.45. Still, the index rose 1.65 per cent for the week, marking its second consecutive weekly gain. The Nifty earlier rose 0.13 percent to hit its third consecutive record high at 7,840.95.
The benchmark BSE Sensex lost 0.55 per cent, or 145.10 points, to end at 26,126.75, while rising 1.9 per cent for the week. It earlier rose 0.1 percent to hit its second straight all-time high at 26,300.17.
A bout of profit-taking hit Indian shares on Friday, sending ICICI Bank Ltd down 2 percent after the stock had gained 12.1 percent over the past eight sessions, while Hindalco Industries Ltd fell 3.1 per cent on profit-taking after gaining in the last three sessions.
Meanwhile Wipro Ltd fell 4.5 percent after the software services exporter's US dollar revenue growth in June-quarter lagged its larger rivals. Infosys lost 0.9 per cent, while Tech Mahindra fell 0.1 percent.
Biocon Ltd slumped 7.3 per cent after June-quarter earnings lagged some analysts' estimates. Motherson Sumi Systems Ltd fell 1 per cent after Bank of America Merrill Lynch downgraded the stock, citing demanding valuations.
However, defensive stocks such as consumer and healthcare gained on portfolio de-risking. Hindustan Unilever added 3.2 per cent, while Sun Pharmaceutical Industries gained 4.5 per cent.
