BENGALURU (Reuters) – Indian shares eased on Wednesday after scaling record highs for two successive sessions, as investors sold off high-flying financial stocks and Nestle slid after reporting disappointing earnings.

Strong corporate earnings, progress in COVID-19 vaccinations and a high-spending federal budget have pushed Indian stocks up 12% in February.

The NSE Nifty 50 index was down 0.49% at 15,238.80 by 0510 GMT, while the S&P BSE Sensex was 0.56% lower at 51,810.23.

The three biggest drags on the Nifty 50 were HDFC Bank, mortgage lender HDFC and Kotak Mahindra Bank. The private-sector banks index, which has climbed a market-beating 18% this month, was down 0.6%.

“The run-up we have seen late last week and early this week seems to have lost a little bit of steam,” said Anand James, chief market strategist at Geojit Financial Services in Kochi.

“Nothing has turned out negative as yet … The mood continues to remain on the positive side and we have foreign institutional investors continuing to pump in more money.”

Nestle India fell 3% after its quarterly profit missed some analysts’ expectations.

State-run lenders rose for a second straight session after Reuters reported that India had shortlisted four banks for potential privatisation.

Shares in the lenders – Indian Overseas Bank, Bank of Maharashtra, Bank of India and Central Bank of India – were each up 15% or more, after ending 20% higher on Tuesday.

Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone gained 3% after it earmarked $1.4 billion to develop a new port.

Other Asian stock markets were also largely weaker after a mixed close on Wall Street overnight.