Indian shares fall after record highs

Indian shares slipped on Tuesday after hitting record highs for three straight sessions, with investors locking in gains in recent winners, including technology and real estate stocks.

The blue-chip NSE Nifty 50 index (.NSEI) was down 0.24 per cent at 17,338.15 by 0520 GMT and the benchmark S&P BSE Sensex (.BSESN) fell 0.2 per cent to 58,180.13. A recent surge in both the indexes has pushed its monthly gain to more than 1 per cent so far in September.

"Sentiment remains bullish but we may see a few days of choppy trading in the market due to the run-up that has happened," Samrat Dasgupta, CEO of Esquire Capital Investment Advisors, said, adding that he does not anticipate a deep correction.

A market awash with liquidity, optimism from India's vaccination progress, and signs of businesses returning pre-pandemic levels have helped the Nifty 50 hit all-time highs 14 times and the Sensex 12 times in the last one month.

On Tuesday, however, the Nifty Realty Index (.NIFTYREAL) declined the most among major sub-indexes with its fall of over 2 per cent, snapping eight sessions of gains.

Real estate firm Prestige Estates Projects (PREG.NS), which had added more than 10 per cent in the last two sessions, dropped 4.4 per cent.

The Nifty IT index (.NIFTYIT), down 0.68 per cent, marked its first fall after three sessions of increases.