Indian shares snap winning run as investors book profits; earnings in focus

By Bharath Rajeswaran and Vivek Kumar M

Indian share benchmarks snapped a four-session rally on Tuesday, as broad-based profit-taking overrode a rebound in IT companies, while investors watched for fresh triggers from the upcoming earnings season.

Shares were largely positive through the day, consolidating gains from mostly upbeat pre-quarterly results updates and lower crude prices. The monsoon's steady progress across the country and the return of foreign inflows also aided sentiment.

The benchmark Nifty 50 NSE:NIFTY fell in the 30 minutes before close to end 0.13% lower at 24,398.70, while the BSE Sensex BSE:SENSEX dropped 0.13% to 78,180.72, after rising 2.4% each over the last four sessions.

Both indexes traded near 10-week highs hit in the previous session.

"While the near-term outlook remains neutral to positive, the market requires a decisive breakout above the multi-month resistance zone of 24,500-24,600 to generate fresh bullish momentum," said analysts led by Rajesh Palviya of Axis Securities.

The ongoing consolidation indicates major demand zones amid minor downward moves, suggesting a strong buying interest on dips, according to Axis Securities.

Foreign portfolio investors turned buyers in the last three consecutive sessions, according to NSE's provisional data, while Brent crude ICEEUR:BRN1! prices held near pre-Iran war levels.

The heavyweight IT index NSE:CNXIT rose 2.4%, extending its July rebound to 6.2%, as U.S. rate-hike bets remained lower than before.

India's top IT services company Tata Consultancy Services NSE:TCS will kick off quarterly earnings on Thursday.

Heavyweight Reliance Industries NSE:RELIANCE1! dropped 1% after a two-session rise, while ICICI Bank NSE:ICICIBANK fell 0.9%, snapping a four-session winning run.

Fashion retailer Trent NSE:TRENT plunged 12.4% after reporting softer-than-expected standalone revenue growth for the June quarter.

Twelve of the 16 major sectors logged losses. The broader small-caps NSE:CNXSMALLCAP and mid-caps NSE:CNXMIDCAP fell about 0.6% and 0.3%, respectively.

Among other stocks, Titan NSE:TITAN gained 2.7% after reporting a 41% growth in consumer business in the first quarter.