HDFC Bank hauls Indian benchmarks out of earnings, US tariffs gloom

By Bharath Rajeswaran and Indranil Sarkar

(Reuters) -India’s benchmark indexes ended strongly on Wednesday, boosted by gains in HDFC Bank after its quarterly results, after having spent the day struggling due to worries about earnings moderation and U.S. trade policy.

The Nifty 50 rose 0.57% to finish at 23,155.35, while the BSE Sensex added 0.75% to close at 76,404.99. The indexes opened higher before treading water for most of the day.

That changed in the last hour once HDFC Bank, the heaviest stock on the indexes, rose about 1.5% after posting a third-quarter profit that was largely in line with market estimates.

Still, “relentless selling by foreign investors, worries over corporate earnings and uncertainty over (U.S. President Donald) Trump’s tariff policies have heightened risk aversion in the markets,” said Jaykrishna Gandhi, an analyst at Emkay Global.

Foreign portfolio investors (FPI) have sold Indian stocks and bonds worth $7 billion in January so far.

IT stocks gained 2.1%. Analysts said that was after Trump laid out plans for AI infrastructure investments and due to the IT sector’s relatively lower stock valuations.

IT firms, which earn a major share of their revenue from the U.S., dropped 1.2% in the previous session amid a broader market slide due to uncertainty over Trump’s tariff plans.

Those fears persisted on the day, with eight of the other 12 major sectors finishing lower.

The broader, more domestically-focused small-caps and mid-caps dropped about 1.6% and 1.3%, respectively, with analysts blaming high valuations amid fears of moderating corporate earnings growth.

Among stocks, life insurer ICICI Prudential fell about 6% after its value of new business margins contracted in the latest quarter.

India Cements lost 8.5% after it posted a wider quarterly loss.

(Reporting by Bharath Rajeswaran and Indranil Sarkar in Bengaluru; Editing by Rashmi Aich, Sonia Cheema and Savio D’Souza)