Indian share benchmarks set for longest weekly losing run in 25 years

Business Recorder reported that Indian equities slipped on Thursday, leaving the main indices poised for an eighth consecutive weekly decline, the longest such streak in a quarter century. Early trading showed the Nifty 50 lower by 0.28%, at 22,558.95, and the BSE Sensex off 0.12% at 72,389.51. Exchanges in India stay shut Friday because of a holiday, prompting cautious positioning before the long weekend.

Overseas buyers were net sellers on Wednesday to the tune of $1.06 billion, based on provisional figures, and they had shed close to $3.6 billion over the previous five sessions. That selling has pushed the year-to-date tally to a record $27.8 billion. Brent crude slipped to about $97 per barrel after Tehran said Washington had answered its newest truce offer, though Donald Trump earlier said he rejected that plan.

Most sectors were weak, with 11 of 16 groups finishing lower and the auto index dropping 2.4%. Bajaj Auto plunged 6% after weaker domestic sales, while Mahindra & Mahindra gave up 2.4%. Kotak Mahindra Bank climbed 3% after naming Anup Kumar Saha as chief executive on a three-year term, replacing Ashok Vaswani. The IT index advanced 0.9% after softer-than-expected US inflation data for August eased bets on a rate increase later this month.