Indian shares fall over 1%, bank stocks witness major downfall

New Delhi: Indian shares ended lower on Friday, with the benchmark Nifty 50 index snapping an eight-session winning streak, as investors locked in profits after the sharp rally. The NSE Nifty 50 index closed down 1.1% at 17,758.45, recording its biggest percentage fall in nearly two months. The S&P BSE Sensex dropped 1.08% to 59,646.15 in its first fall in six sessions. The decline marked the index's biggest percentage loss since June 22.

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Still, both indexes notched up their fifth week of gains, with the Nifty 50 adding 0.34% and the Sensex 0.3% for the week.

Bank stocks led the fall, with the Nifty PSU bank index closing down 2.7%. Canara Bank and Bank of Baroda were the top losers on the index.

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IndusInd Bank and Bajaj Finserv were the top losers on the Nifty 50 index, down 3.8% and 3%, respectively.

Auto and consumer stocks, the major drivers of the recent rally, also declined on Friday. Tata Motors ended 2.9% lower, while Hindustan Unilever fell 1.8%.

The Nifty Auto index closed down 1.4%, having risen 4.7% so far this month.

Shares of oil-to-telecoms conglomerate Reliance Industries Ltd fell 1.8% following an overnight announcement on government raising tax on fuel exports after cutting them a little over two weeks ago, and slashing a windfall tax on locally produced crude oil.

Bucking the trend, IT stocks gained, with the Nifty IT index ending up 0.06% after having risen as much as 1.5% earlier in the session.