Feb 21 (Reuters) - India's benchmark indexes fell on Friday, dragged by financials and automobile stocks, while concerns over U.S. tariffs continued to dent investor sentiment.
The Nifty 50 was down 0.67% at 22,760.65 by 10:53 a.m. IST, while the BSE Sensex lost 0.66% to 75,228.76.
The indexes are down 0.7% and 0.9% for the week so far.
Financials and information technology stocks fell 1% and 0.4% amid concerns over persistent sales from foreign investors, as they hold a greater proportion of stocks in these sectors.
Private lender ICICI Bank declined by about 1.7%, dragging the bank index down by 1%.
Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) have sold shares worth $11.75 billion so far in 2025, including 33.12 billion rupees ($382.6 million) on Thursday, according to exchange data.
"The uncertainty over U.S. tariffs and the relentless foreign outflows in the face of China's recovery are two major overhangs for domestic markets currently, keeping sentiment in check," said Siddhartha Khemka, head of research of wealth management at Motilal Oswal Financial Services.
Auto stocks fell 2.5% following media reports that the government may reduce import duty of 15% on electric vehicles from 110% as part of a new EV policy as Tesla prepares to enter the Indian market.
Mahindra & Mahindra fell 5.7% while Tata Motors lost 2.2%.
"Heightened competition from global companies like Tesla will put pressure on domestic auto makers," said Arvind Sharma and Jeff Chung of Citi Research.
The broader midcap and smallcap indexes fell 0.7% and 1.1%, respectively.
The midcap and smallcap indexes are down 16% and 20% from their record high levels, on concerns over costlier valuations and weak earnings.
Bucking the trend, L&T Technology Services rose around 3% after Macquarie upgraded the stock to "outperform," citing faster growth prospects with its acquisition of software product engineering focused firm Intelliswift.
Financial services provider Religare Enterprises gained 4% after the Burman family, which owns Dabur, took control of the company.
Reporting by Vivek Kumar M and Bharath Rajeswaran in Bengaluru; Editing by Sonia Cheema, Mrigank Dhaniwala and Varun H K
Source: Reuters