BENGALURU, May 13 (Reuters) - Indian shares ended lower for
a sixth straight session on Friday, reversing from earlier gains
as poor earnings from top lender State Bank of India offset a
jump in Tata Motors.
The NSE Nifty 50 index closed 0.16% lower at
15,782.15 and the S&P BSE Sensex fell 0.26% to
52,793.62, having risen more than 1% earlier in the session.
The indexes logged their fifth straight week of losses, the
longest weekly losing streak since 2020.
Sentiment was also weighed down by higher oil prices, which
pressure the trade and current account deficits of India - the
world's third-largest importer and consumer of oil.
"We are continuing to see foreign investors selling and the
market bounce back today had given some investors an opportunity
to sell at a better price and crude prices have moved up, so
sentiment for India is still negative," said Neeraj Dewan,
director at Quantum Securities.
Foreign investors sold $1.81 billion worth Indian equities
this week, compared with outflows of worth $635 million in the
previous week.
The market is unlikely to see a sustained rebound unless
there is some improvement on the macro front, such as inflation
or crude prices, Dewan said.
Data on Thursday showed India's annual retail inflation rose
by a more-than-expected 7.79% in April, staying above the
central bank's tolerance band of 6% for a fourth straight month.
Conglomerate Reliance Industries - India's most
valuable company - closed 1.1% higher to snap a nine-day losing
streak.
Bajaj Finance and Bajaj Finserv were
among the top drags on the Nifty 50, falling 1.4% and 1.9%,
respectively.
State Bank of India ended down 3.9% after touching
a two-month low due to a weaker-than-expected profit for the
fourth quarter.
The Nifty's auto index advanced the most among
Nifty sub-indexes, closing up 2.4%. The jump was led by an 8.6%
rise in Tata Motors Ltd after it reported a smaller
quarterly loss late on Thursday.
(Reporting by Rama Venkat in Bengaluru; Editing by Aditya Soni)