By Bharath Rajeswaran
(Reuters) -Indian shares declined on Thursday, as aluminium maker Hindalco Industries led a slide in metal stocks after its U.S. unit’s quarterly profit drop, while analysts flagged concerns over foreign inflows.
The NSE Nifty 50 fell 1.18% to 24,195.55 points as of 12:26 p.m. IST, while the BSE Sensex shed 1.07% to 79,524.66.
All the 13 major sectors logged losses, with 46 of the Nifty 50 constituents falling.
Hindalco slid 8.5% after its U.S. unit, Novelis, reported a lower profit. It was the biggest loser on the Nifty 50 and dragged metals stocks down 2.5%.
On Wednesday, the benchmarks posted their biggest single-day rise in more than six weeks as Donald Trump won the U.S. presidential election.
The broader, more domestically focused small-cap index and mid-caps fell about 0.4% each.
The drop is “more of a technical pullback with some investors trying to use the rally in the previous session to book profits,” Sunny Agrawal, an analyst at SBICaps Securities, said.
“The other, more deeper concern is over foreign flows. A rise in the U.S. Treasury yields in anticipation of a tariff hike on imports by Trump and the consequent rise in U.S. dollar index and inflation could hurt foreign inflows to India,” Agrawal said.
The U.S. Federal Reserve’s rate decision and commentary is due after the Indian markets close. The Fed is expected to cut rates by 25 basis points.
Hospital-chain operator Apollo Hospitals jumped 6.1%, the most on the Nifty 50, after it beat second-quarter profit estimates on strong healthcare services demand.
Shares of BSE, Voltas, Oberoi Realty and Kalyan Jewellers rose on the day following their inclusion in a key MSCI index.
($1 = 84.2760 Indian rupees)
(Reporting by Bharath Rajeswaran in Bengaluru; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips, Savio D’Souza and Mrigank Dhaniwala)
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