Indian shares flat as Hero MotoCorp, Reliance offset tech losses

FILE PHOTO: A broker reacts while trading at his computer terminal at a stock brokerage firm in Mumbai, India, February 26, 2016. REUTERS/Shailesh Andrade/File Photo
BENGALURU (Reuters) – Indian shares were unchanged on Friday, as gains in Hero MotoCorp and Reliance Industries were offset by losses in heavyweight information technology stocks.
By 0400 GMT, the blue-chip NSE Nifty 50 index was down 0.02% at 15,676.25 and the benchmark S&P BSE Sensex fell 0.04% to 52,299.41.
While declining COVID-19 cases, easing of curbs and a surge in vaccinations have helped the indexes hit record highs recently, they’ve struggled this week amid a lack of fresh domestic triggers, and are on track to post a weekly loss of more than 1%.
India’s largest motorbike maker Hero MotoCorp gained as much as 1.6% after posting higher sales for June.
Conglomerate Reliance Industries rose 0.7%, continuing its recovery after a recent 5-day streak of losses.
The Nifty IT index fell 0.5%, and was on track for its second straight session of losses.
The Nifty Bank index added 0.1%.
The Reserve Bank of India said in its Financial Stability Report on Thursday that the impact of the pandemic on the balance sheet of banks has not been as severe as projected earlier.