India's BSE Sensex closed about 0.6% down at 83,938.7 on Friday, the lowest since October 16, extending losses for a 2nd straight day. Foreign fund outflows, mixed corporate earnings and the lack of clarity on the US Federal Reserve's future rate action continued to pressure sentiment. At the same time, US-China trade deal was welcomed with caution. Eternal, NTPC, Kotak Mahindra Bank, ICICI Bank, Bajaj Finserv, Power Grid, Trent and HDFC Bank were the major laggards, shedding between 1% and 3.5%. On the flip side, Bharat Electronics added nearly 4% ahead of its quarterly report and after the company secured additional orders worth 7.32 billion rupees. Larsen & Toubro, Tata Consultancy Services and State Bank of India were also among the few gainers, adding between 0.3% and 1.1%. ITC rose 0.4% after reporting stronger-than-expected Q2 profit on Thursday. The index fell 0.3% for the week, its first decline in five weeks, but posted a 4.6% gain for the month.
The Shanghai Composite fell 0.81% to close at 3,955, while the Shenzhen Component dropped 1.14% to 13,378 on Friday, extending losses from the previous session as disappointing manufacturing and services data weighed on sentiment. Weaker business activity reflected renewed Sino-US trade tensions, sluggish domestic demand, and a prolonged property downturn. Meanwhile, Presidents Xi and Trump met on Thursday, with Washington agreeing to lower tariffs on Chinese imports and Beijing pledging to curb fentanyl exports, boost US soybean purchases, and suspend rare earth export controls. However, the outcomes were largely expected, offering limited market lift. Profit-taking also pressured mainland shares, with tech and AI-related stocks retreating, including Zhongji Innolight (-8.1%), Eoptolink Technology (-7.9%), Foxconn Industrial (-7.7%), Victory Giant (-10.5%), and Cambricon Technologies (-3.3%). The benchmark indexes ended the week little changed.
