By Bharath Rajeswaran
(Reuters) -Indian shares slid more than 1% on Monday, with the benchmark Nifty 50 and Sensex indexes finishing at seven-month lows, as a swathe of lacklustre earnings reports fuelled fears that a slowdown in corporate profits would continue.
The Nifty 50 fell 1.14% to end at 22,829.15, while the BSE Sensex shed 1.08% to close at 75,366.17.
Small-cap stocks sank 3.8%, while mid-caps lost 2.75%, both posting their worst session in two weeks. All 13 major sectors logged losses.
“Slowing earnings in the December quarter has been a major pain point for the domestic markets, with the weakness in capex and consumption spooking investor sentiment,” said Avinash Gorakshakar, head of research at Profitmart Securities.
Among the companies reporting earnings, IDFC First Bank fell about 9% after posting a lower quarterly profit, hurt by souring microfinance loans.
AU Small Finance Bank also lost 5.25% after cutting its fiscal year 2025 loan growth forecast.
JSW Steel declined 2% after missing quarterly profit estimates due to lower prices and cooling demand. That, as well as lower metal prices, dragged metal stocks down about 3%. [MET/L]
Bucking the trend, No. 2 private lender ICICI Bank rose 1.6% after reporting a higher quarterly profit due to healthy loan growth.
But, adding to the gloom, pharma stocks lost 2.65%. Analysts said the U.S. pausing foreign aid is expected to stop funding for AIDS relief as well, which hurts AIDS drug makers.
Laurus Labs, which has the highest exposure to the programme per ICICI Securities, sank 11.3%. Cipla fell 1% while Aurobindo Pharma and Strides Pharma dropped 3% to 4%.
(Reporting by Bharath Rajeswaran in Bengaluru; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips, Janane Venkatraman and Savio D’Souza)
