By Manvi Pant and Bharath Rajeswaran
BENGALURU (Reuters) -India’s Nifty 50 index slipped from a record high on Friday as weakness in IT shares and a drop in heavyweight Reliance outweighed a rally in Bajaj Finance shares after restrictions on its lending products were lifted.
The blue-chip Nifty 50 was down 0.12% at 22,621.7 points, as of 10:58 a.m. IST, while the S&P BSE Sensex fell 0.27% to 74,405.85.
Both the indexes rose about 0.6% each in the first hour of trade, with the Nifty hitting a record high.
While momentum remains positive for domestic equities, there will be profit booking at record high levels, said Narendra Solanki, head of fundamental research of investment services at Anand Rathi Shares and Stock Brokers.
Reliance Industries, the second-heaviest stock on the Nifty, dropped 1%, ranking among the top losers on the index.
IT shares fell 0.7% after Coforge slipped 8.6% on reporting a smaller-than-expected quarterly revenue.
Bigger peers Infosys, Tech Mahindra and LTIMindtree all lost between 0.5% and 1%.
In contrast, high-weightage financials rose 0.2%, with Bajaj Finance climbing 4.3% after India’s central bank reversed a five-month ban on some of its lending products.
The Nifty 50 has risen about 19% since November, outperforming others Asian peers over the last six months.
“The ongoing rally is going to be India’s longest and best bull market ever,” analysts at Morgan Stanley said in a note.
“We see significant upside to return-on-equity and a longer earnings growth cycle to drive this potential outcome,” they added.
Among other stocks, Coal India’s shares rose 3% on the day and was among the top five Nifty 50 gainers after it beat fourth-quarter revenue estimates, while Ajanta Pharma surged 9% to record high on approving a share buyback and rise in quarterly profit.
Blue-chip firms Britannia Industries and Titan Company are among companies scheduled to report earnings on Friday.
(Reporting by Manvi Pant and Bharath Rajeswaran in Bengaluru; Editing by Eileen Soreng, Savio D’Souza and Sonia Cheema)
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