Credit: REUTERS/FRANCIS MASCARENHASAdds opening levels
BENGALURU, March 24 (Reuters) - Indian shares opened lower on Friday, weighed down by financials, although losses were capped by a rebound in IT stocks despite Accenture's warning of weaker client spending.
The Nifty 50 index .NSEI was down 0.11% at 17,057.35 as of 10:03 a.m. IST. The S&P BSE Sensex .BSESN fell 0.05% to 57,895.48. The broader Asian equity indexes were subdued. MKTS/GLOB
Twelve of the 13 major sectoral indexes declined, with the heavyweight financials index .NIFTYFIN losing over 0.7%.
Shares of asset management companies fell after Reuters reported that the government may propose investments in debt mutual funds be taxed as short-term capital gains.
HDFC Asset Management Co HDFCA.NS fell over 3%, UTI AMC UTIA.NS lost 2% and Aditya Birla Sun Life AMC ADIE.NS shed 2%.
IT stocks .NIFTYIT rose more than 1% despite Accenture ACN.Nlowering its forecasts for annual revenue and profit and announcing about 19,000 job cuts, joining other IT service providers who have warned of muted growth and tapering demand due to high interest rates and the U.S. banking turmoil.
The sector's significant exposure to U.S. and European banking, financial services and insurance (BFSI) industry has become a cause for concern since the banking crisis erupted in the middle of this month.
Since then, the Nifty IT sector has tumbled 5.23% before Friday's move. In that same period, the broader Nifty 50 index has slid 1.93%, while financials have shed only 1% as they are expected to be largely insulated from the global banking crisis.
Among individual stocks, Campus Activewear CAMU.NS lost over 6% after a media report said TPG Global would offload its entire 7.6% stake in the company via block deals.
(Reporting by Bharath Rajeswaran in Bengaluru; Editing by Savio D'Souza)
((bharath.rajeswaran@thomsonreuters.com; +91 9769003463))
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