By Bharath Rajeswaran
(Reuters) -India’s stock benchmarks inched lower on Friday, tracking Asian peers, after U.S. jobs data failed to provide clarity on interest rate cuts.
The Nifty 50 fell 0.14% to 26,155.75, while the BSE Sensex was down 0.12% at 85,532.61, as of 9:40 a.m. IST.
Both indexes settled less than 0.5% below their September 2024 all-time highs in the previous session.
Fifteen of the 16 major sectors declined on the day, with the metal index losing the most at 0.9%.
Hindalco Industries fell 2.5% after a fire at its unit Novelis’ aluminium plant in New York.
The broader small-caps and mid-caps fell about 0.4% each.
Other Asian markets slid 2.3%, after a 1% rise on Thursday, while Wall Street equities declined overnight after data showed acceleration in employment growth in September, dampening hopes of a U.S. rate cut in December.
Higher rates tend to make emerging markets such as India less attractive for overseas investors.
Concerns over inflated tech valuations also resurfaced, dragging U.S. stocks lower, overshadowing Nvidia’s consensus-beating quarterly results. [MKTS/GLOB]
While domestic markets slipped at the open, all-time high levels for domestic benchmarks are well within reach and dip-buying could emerge through the session on positive sentiment due to improving earnings outlooks and stable flows, according to two analysts.
“The near-term outlook appears decisively bullish,” said Osho Krishnan, chief manager of technical and derivative research at Angel One.
Among stocks, Mahindra & Mahindra rose 1.1% after the company announced a target of 8-fold revenue growth in sports utility vehicles and light commercial vehicles and a three-fold growth in farm business over fiscal years 2020-2030.
Agrochemicals firm Sharda Cropchem jumped 4.1% after raising its fiscal year 2026 revenue growth guidance to near 20% from 15%.
($1 = 88.6900 Indian rupees)
(Reporting by Bharath Rajeswaran in Bengaluru; Editing by Rashmi Aich and Sonia Cheema)
