BENGALURU, Jan 18 (Reuters) - Indian shares fell on Thursday, dragged by financial services as HDFC Bank extended decline and weaker information technology stocks.
The blue-chip NSE Nifty 50 shed 0.92% to 21,373 points, while the S&P BSE Sensex lost 0.78% to 70,939.90, as of 10:10 a.m. IST.
Both indexes have fallen about 3.5% from record high levels seen on Tuesday.
Financial services dropped about 1%, as HDFC Bank lost 2.5%, extending declines from its worst session in over three years on Wednesday.
IT index fell 2%, dragged by a 11.4% decline in LTIMindtree after it missed December-quarter profit estimates on weak demand and furloughs.
Strong U.S. retail sales data for December dampened early rate cut expectations, adding to the pressure on IT companies as they earn a significant share of their revenue from the U.S.
The odds of a 25 basis points rate cut in March stood at 59.6%, down from 63.1% a day ago, according to CME's FedWatch, opens new tab tool.
Negative catalysts such as rate worries in the U.S. and concerns in financials are weighing on market sentiment, said Prashanth Tapse, senior vice president of research at Mehta Equities.
The more domestically focussed small- and mid-caps also declined, losing 1.25% and 1.75%, respectively.
Among individual stocks, ICICI Prudential Life Insurance 6.5% after posting slide in new business margins in December quarter.
State-owned NHPC fell 5.5% after government proposed to sell up to 3.5% stake in the power generator through an offer for sale. The floor price of the offer is set at 66 rupees, nearly 10% discount to Wednesday close.
On the other hand, Aarti Industries jumped about 5% on getting a supply contract worth 60 billion rupees ($721.4 million) with a multinational conglomerate.
($1 = 83.1700 Indian rupees)
Reporting by Bharath Rajeswaran in Bengaluru; Editing by Eileen Soreng, Janane Venkatraman and Varun H K
Source: Reuters