BENGALURU, Aug 31 Reuters Indian shares ended lower on Thursday and snapped a fivemonth winning streak, weighed down by the continued drop in financials and consumer stocks and as foreign investments moderated.

The Nifty 50 closed down 0.48 at 19,253.80, while the SP BSE Sensex finished 0.39 lower at 64,831.41.

The Nifty has lost 2.53 in August after gaining 14.16 from March to July, while the Sensex dropped 2.55 in August after rising 12.83 in the previous five months.

The benchmark is likely to remain in consolidation mode on moderation in foreign inflows after a sharp uptick over the last five months, said Siddhartha Khemka, head of retail research at Motilal Oswal Financial Services.

Foreign inflows hit a fourmonth low of 122.52 billion rupees 1.48 billion in August.

Financials, the heaviest weighted among the 13 major sectors, fell 0.53 on the day and 3.66 for the month.

Analysts say the drop was due to the central bank39;s move to ask lenders to set aside a larger part of incremental deposits under the cash reserve ratio CRR to mop up excess liquidity.

HDFC Bank, the highest weighted Nifty constituent, fell 0.46 on the day and 3.40 for August.

Consumer stocks slid again, led by a 0.70 drop in ITC, on persistent worries over lowerthanexpected monsoon rains in August. They have lost 1.81 after falling in four of the last five sessions.

On the bright side, the U.S. ratesensitive IT stocks rose 0.20 as fresh data bolstered bets that the Federal Reserve39;s…