(Adds 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 was down 0.11% at 17,057.35 as of
10:03 a.m. IST. The S&P BSE Sensex fell 0.05% to
57,895.48. The broader Asian equity indexes were subdued. Twelve of the 13 major sectoral indexes declined, with the
heavyweight financials index 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 fell over 3%, UTI AMC lost 2% and Aditya Birla Sun Life AMC shed
2%.
IT stocks rose more than 1% despite Accenture lowering 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 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)
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