(Reuters) -Indian shares opened lower on Friday, as IT bellwether Infosys slid after a disappointing forecast and automakers deepened their losses, while continuing foreign fund outflows further weighed on sentiment.
The Nifty 50 index dropped 0.4% to 24,655 points as of 9:35 a.m. IST, while the S&P BSE Sensex edged down 0.5% to 80,623.
The benchmarks have suffered losses over the past three sessions as foreign investors pulled out money from Indian equities to focus on China.
Foreign institutional investors have pulled out $8.4 billion so far in October, already set for the highest monthly outflows since at least 2002. Assets under custody of foreign portfolio investors had crossed $1 trillion as of September-end.
Twelve out of thirteen subsectors declined in early trade, with IT stocks leading the losses with a 1% drop.
Infosys raised its full-year revenue growth forecast to 3.75%-4.5%, but fell short of Street expectations of 4%-5%.
Gold lender Manappuram Finance tanked 15% after its unit Asirvad Micro Finance was barred by the Indian central bank from disbursing fresh loans, citing a breach of norms.
Bajaj Auto’s losses, sparked by a warning that festive sales may fall below expectations, spilled into a second day with a 2% fall. The fourth heaviest stock on the Nifty Auto index dragged the gauge lower by 0.2%.
On the flip side, Axis Bank gained 3% after its September-quarter profit topped expectations, while IT firm Wipro added 4.7% after a revenue beat and bonus share issue, helping to limit some losses on the Nifty 50.
($1 = 84.0600 Indian rupees)
(Reporting by Hritam Mukherjee in Bengaluru; Editing by Savio D’Souza and Abinaya Vijayaraghavan)
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