By Bharath Rajeswaran and Vivek Kumar M
(Reuters) -Indian stock benchmarks fell on Friday, logging their fifth straight weekly loss – the longest losing streak in two years – as the U.S. hit trading partners with steep tariffs and reaffirmed a 25% duty on India, stoking global growth worries.
The Nifty 50 fell 0.82% to 24,565.35 points and the BSE Sensex lost 0.72% to 80,599.91.
Both the benchmarks fell about 1.1% this week, with fourteen of the 16 major sectors ending lower.
The broader small-caps and mid-caps declined 3.4% and 2.4%, respectively, for the week.
“The tariff threat feels more like hardball than endgame, leverage not lasting policy,” said Aishvarya Dadheech, chief investment officer at Fident Asset Management.
However, relentless foreign selling and U.S. inflationary pressures from tariff uncertainty could sting emerging markets such as India in the near term, Dadheech added.
Foreign portfolio investors have sold Indian stocks for nine consecutive sessions, with July outflows reaching 17.74 billion rupees, the highest since February.
U.S.-exposed IT slipped 1.9% on Friday and 2.7% for the week as tariffs and inflation worries triggered demand concerns.
Pharma shed 3.3% on the day and 2.9% on week after U.S. President Donald Trump pushed drugmakers to slash prescription prices, intensifying pricing pressures.
Sun Pharma fell 4.5% on the day, the most on the Nifty 50, with Investec downgrading the stock to “sell” from “buy”.
In contrast, consumer stocks jumped 3% this week, led by Hindustan Unilever and Varun Beverages, as strong June-quarter earnings boosted hopes of a gradual demand revival.
For the week, infrastructure giant Larsen & Toubro and paints maker Asian Paints also gained 4.2% and 4.1%, respectively, on strong quarterly results.
PNB Housing Finance plunged 18% to log their worst session in nearly seven years after CEO Girish Kousgi resigned, a move analysts called a setback given his role in driving profitability and asset quality.
($1 = 87.5700 Indian rupees)
(Reporting by Vivek Kumar M and Bharath Rajeswaran; Editing by Ronojoy Mazumdar, Mrigank Dhaniwala and Eileen Soreng)
