Mumbai: Indian shares were down 1% on Tuesday afternoon, as investors took profits after the market closed at its best level in 14 months in the previous session following a 17.5% jump over the past three weeks.
At 2:14pm, the 30-share BSE index was down 0.92% at 15,777.08 points, with 22 stocks declining. The 50-share NSE index was down 0.84% at 4,671.85.
Markets fell 0.5% as investors cashed in profits after the market rose to its highest close in 14 months in the previous session following a 17.5% jump over the past three weeks.
The main index opened up 0.2% and then rose past 16,000 points for the first time in 14 months before falling back.
Top telecoms firm Bharti Airtel fell 2.6% to Rs400.45 on concerns it may have to sweeten its offer for a deal with South Africa’s MTN.
State-run Oil and Natural Gas Corp slid 2% to Rs1,152.90 as oil edged back from the previous day’s 3% gains, with worries about a rise in US crude inventories offsetting optimism from positive US and Chinese manufacturing data.
Diversified cigarette maker ITC, which eased 2.6% to Rs241.80, and outsourcer Infosys Technologies that slipped 2% to Rs2,035, were among the other major losers.
By 11:07am, the 30-share BSE index was down 0.5% at 15,843.92 points, with 19 stocks declining. Earlier, it rose as much as 0.5% to 16,002.46 - its highest since 2 June last year. The 50-share NSE index was down 0.5% at 4,687.25.
“Everybody wanted the 16,000 mark to be breached, but after that we fell back as there are no more triggers for the market to go up now,” Arun Kejriwal, strategist at research firm KRIS, said.
The benchmark’s rally over the past three weeks has been driven by strong domestic and global corporate earnings. However, the rally has boosted gains to more than 96% from a 2009 low in March and 65.1% this year, stoking concerns about rich valuations.
The market had discounted the earnings and big reforms would be needed to spur the market upwards, analysts say.
In the broader market on Tuesday, gainers led losers 1,410 to 819 on relatively heavy volume of 156 million shares.
Other Asian markets were higher on Tuesday, with Japan’s Nikkei up 0.2%, while MSCI’s measure of other Asian markets rose 0.1%.