Indian shares fall on fears of fund outflows; Future Group firms drop

BENGALURU: Indian shares opened lower on Friday, on continued fears of foreign fund outflows from emerging markets due to rising US Treasury yields, while shares of Future Group companies fell nearly 10% each after a court blocked its asset sale.

By 0351 GMT, The blue-chip NSE Nifty 50 index fell 0.83% to 14,437.45 and the benchmark S&P BSE Sensex slid 0.79% to 48,829.83.

The spike in yields also weighed on broader Asian markets.

Indian indexes have shed more than 1% for two straight sessions on worries about a surge in domestic cases of COVID-19.

As of Thursday's close, both the Nifty and Sensex are off roughly 5% from their record closing highs hit in mid-Feb.

Among individual shares and sectors, Future Group companies, including Future Retail and Future Consumer, dropped nearly 10% each.

An Indian court on Thursday restrained Future Group chief Kishore Biyani from selling his personal assets following Amazon.com Inc's challenge against the Indian group's $3.4 billion sale of its retail business to Reliance Industries.

Shares of Reliance fell 0.3%.

Heavyweight financial stocks were the biggest losers. The Nifty Bank Index fell 0.69%. HDFC Bank shed 0.6% and was the top drag on the Nifty 50.