Updates for close
By Kashish Tandon
Dec 20 (Reuters) - Indian shares plunged on Friday, with the benchmarks logging their first weekly decline in five weeks, as sentiment soured after the Federal Reserve projected fewer rate cuts next year, spurring an exodus of foreign funds.
The Nifty 50 dropped 1.5% to 23,587.50 points at market close, while the BSE Sensex shed 1.5% to 78,041.59.
The Nifty fell below its 200-day moving average for the first time in a month.
Both the benchmarks fell nearly 5% this week while the more domestically-focused smallcaps and midcaps lost about 3.5%.
"India has borne the brunt of foreign outflows this week, largely due to the Fed's commentary," said Aishvarya Dadheech, chief investment officer of Fident Asset Management.
On Wednesday, the Fed cut rates as expected but scaled back its forecast to two reductions in 2025 from four earlier.
U.S. rate cuts tend to help emerging markets assets, such as Indian equities, as they boost foreign inflows.
Overseas investors sold 122.31 billion rupees ($1.44 billion) of Indian stocks this week until Thursday.
All of the 13 major sectors ended lower on Friday.
IT stocks , which earn a chunk of their revenue from the U.S. and are sensitive to the rate trajectory, fell 2.6%.
These shares had gained earlier in the day, fueled by sector bellwether Accenture's .
"IT's sharp meltdown today, despite Accenture's upbeat results, is surprising and indicated foreign selling is happening in the sector," Aishvarya Dadheech said.
Heavyweight financials fell 1.3%, with private lender Axis Bank shedding 3.3%.
Battery maker Amara Raja Energy & Mobility climbed as much as 5% after Hyundai Motor India said it will equip its domestic cars with the company's absorbent glass mat battery technology.
($1 = 85.0860 Indian rupees)
(Reporting by Kashish Tandon in Bengaluru; Editing by Eileen Soreng, Sonia Cheema and Mrigank Dhaniwala)
((kashish.tandon@thomsonreuters.com [Hritam.Mukherjee@thomsonreuters.com]; 8800437922;))
