Indian shares end flat, clock weekly 1.5% gain

BENGALURU (Reuters) – Indian shares pulled back from record highs to close little changed on Friday as gains in metal and pharmaceutical stocks were offset by a profit-taking spree in the IT sector.

The NSE Nifty 50 index closed 0.01% lower at 15,923.40, while the S&P BSE Sensex fell 0.04% to 53,140.06. Both indexes ended the week nearly 1.5% higher, their first weekly gain in three.

The Nifty IT index closed 1.07% lower on Friday but added 2.5% for the week, buoyed by strong results from software services heavyweights including Infosys Ltd, MindTree Ltd and Wipro Ltd.

With several Indian startups going public to cash in on liquidity by foreign funds, investors are cautious of high valuations fuelling a range-bound movement in the two major indexes.

Digital payments startup Paytm filed for an initial public offering of up to 166 billion rupees ($2.23 billion), its draft papers submitted to the country’s market regulator showed.

A $1.3 billion stock offering by food delivery startup Zomato was oversubscribed almost eight times before its closing on Friday.

The Nifty Metal index rose 1.05%, lifted by gains in Tata Steel and JSW Steel, a day after the world’s biggest producer China recorded a dip in crude steel output.

The Nifty Pharma index, which shed 0.27% on Thursday, hit an all-time high and closed about 1.2% higher on Friday.

Shares of Angel Broking soared 20% to an all-time high, and were locked in their upper circuit, after the stockbroker’s June-quarter consolidated profit more than doubled.

Global shares held steady while U.S. Treasury yields hovered near multi-month lows on Friday, with markets looking to U.S. consumer data as the next test of the Federal Reserve’s dovish rates outlook. [MKTS/GLOB]

($1 = 74.5140 Indian rupees)

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