Indian shares muted as energy stocks offset tech, financial losses

BENGALURU: Indian shares were unchanged on Thursday as gains in the energy sector offset losses in some technology and financial stocks, with global sentiment turning cautious on slowing economic growth and potential stimulus tapering by central banks.

The blue-chip NSE Nifty 50 index was 0.06% higher at 17,364.75 by 0530 GMT and the benchmark S&P BSE Sensex was up 0.09% at 58,302.24.

Indian markets, which are closed for a holiday on Friday, have witnessed a mixed week as they scaled peaks at the start of the week but were largely unchanged in the past two sessions.

Among other Asian markets, caution kicked in due to economic growth worries and after several Federal Reserve policymakers signalled the Fed remains on track to reduce asset purchases this year.

"Geopolitical situation is still fluid - US will be closely watched for any updates on the tapering front, but right now, domestic stock markets have caught up with all the positive data and some profit-taking and sector churning is at play," said KK Mittal, investment advisor at Venus India.

The Nifty Energy Index advanced the most among sub-indexes. Oil and Natural Gas Corp led the pack with a near 4% rise.

Information technology major Wipro Ltd extended losses to a third session and fell as much 1.2%.

Axis Bank, which added nearly 1% on Wednesday, was down 1.2% and among the top percentage decliners on the Nifty 50 UCO Bank surged 16.4% after India's central bank said it had removed the bank off its prompt corrective action list.

SBI Life Insurance Company fell 4.1% after reports that said Canada Pension Plan Investment sold a 2% stake in the firm.

On the radar of investors next week would be the country's retail inflation data. A Reuters poll predicted the reading to be steady in August.