Indian equities recovered from sharp early losses on Friday but still closed lower, marking a third consecutive session of declines for the Sensex and Nifty amid profit-booking after October’s strong rally.
The S&P BSE Sensex fell 0.1% to 83,216.28, rebounding from an intraday drop of over 600 points, while the NSE Nifty 50 slipped 0.07% to 25,492.30 after falling nearly 0.7% earlier in the day.
Tech and telecom stocks led the losses, with Bharti Airtel down 4.5% following Singapore Telecommunications’ $1.2-billion stake sale. Tech Mahindra, Reliance Industries, Trent, and HCL Technologies also fell between 1% and 4.5%.
For the week, both indices lost 0.9%, with small-cap stocks sliding 1.7% while mid-caps remained largely flat. Public-sector banks outperformed, gaining 2.1%, led by State Bank of India after strong earnings and improved loan growth guidance.
Analysts said the decline was driven by profit-taking, foreign fund outflows, rupee weakness, global tech pressures, weak US job data, and cautious technical charts.
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