BENGALURU: Indian shares opened marginally lower on Thursday, weighed down by a drop in financials and information technology stocks, but a rise in Ultratech Cement after it said it would buy a stake in India Cements, capped losses.

The NSE Nifty 50 inched down 0.2% to 23,819.7 points, while the S&P BSE Sensex lost 0.22% to 78,502.66 points, as of 9:37 a.m. IST.

Financials-linked indexes such as financial services , private sector banks, banks and state-owned lenders were down about 0.2% each, in early trade. Financials led a recent rally, lifting the benchmarks to record closing highs in the last two sessions.

Indian shares set to open little changed; financials in focus

Information technology stocks also weighed on the benchmarks, losing 0.6%, ahead of a key US inflation reading on Friday, which could provide more clues on the timing of US rate cuts.

A 5% rise in Nifty 50 constituent Ultratech Cement capped losses on the benchmark after the company said it would buy a 23% stake in India Cements for 18.85 billion rupees ($226 million).

India Cements surged 6%.