BENGALURU  - Indian shares were on track to snap four straight sessions of gains on Friday, as losses in banking stocks weighed on the indexes, while investors eyed earnings from Reliance Industries, the country’s most valuable company, later in the day.

The NSE Nifty 50 index fell 0.65% to 14,798.25 by 0514 GMT, while the benchmark S&P BSE Sensex slipped 0.66% to 49,441.7. Both the indexes are likely to close the week around 3% higher on gains from upbeat earnings reports.

“There is a clear cap on the upside and the market valuation is already rich... this is some routine profit-taking before the next news cycle,” said Rusmik Oza, head of fundamental research at Kotak Securities.

“There’s also pressure from uncertainty surrounding how much the market will suffer in the first quarter as (coronavirus) cases rise... the international media coverage of the situation is also putting off some FIIs (foreign institutional investors).”

On Friday, India reported a record daily increase in COVID-19 infections at 386,452, while deaths jumped by 3,498.

Among individual shares and sectors, Reliance traded in a tight range ahead of its quarterly results. The stock is up more than 6% this week, as of its last close.

Financial stocks dropped 1.6%, with lending heavyweight HDFC Bank falling 3.1% to lead the losses on the index.

Consumer goods stocks lost 0.8%. Hindustan Unilever shed 3% a day after reporting a rise in quarterly profit.

Energy stocks were higher as oil prices hovered near a 6-week peak, with Oil and Natural Gas Corporation jumping more than 7%.

Wipro climbed as much as 4% to a record high after the IT firm raised its outlook for June-quarter IT services revenue following the close of an acquisition.

Benchmark Nifty 50 component IndusInd Bank is also due to report earnings on Friday.

Reporting by Soumyajit Saha in Bengaluru; editing by Uttaresh.V

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