Indian shares little changed as investors focus on company results

By Darshana Sankararaman

REUTERS - Indian shares were nearly unchanged on Monday as investors waited for positive corporate results after a disappointing start to the earnings season last week when Infosys Ltd issued a lower-than-expected revenue guidance.

Shares of Infosys, the country's second-biggest software services exporter, were down 0.7 percent after falling 3.87 percent on Thursday. Markets were closed on Friday for a public holiday.

The weak guidance raised concerns about earnings, with Tata Consultancy Services Ltd, Yes Bank Ltd, and HDFC Bank Ltd due to report this week.

"With the earnings season having just begun, markets need to see some kind of confirmation that growth will come," said Saurabh Jain, assistant vice-president of research at SMC Global Securities.

"Broadly, markets are consolidating and are finding it difficult to sustain fresh highs, and profit-booking is coming in."

The NSE Nifty was down 0.04 percent at 9,147.35 by 0550 GMT. The broader index has fallen 1.2 percent since hitting a record high on April 5.

The benchmark BSE Sensex was 0.06 percent higher at 29,480.16.

The NSE IT index was down 0.6 percent, dropping for the third consecutive day, with TCS losing up to 1.32 percent.

Yes Bank and HDFC Bank were down more than 0.5 percent each.

Among gainers, Dr. Reddy's Laboratories Ltd rose as much as 3.1 percent and was the top gainer on the NSE Nifty after the U.S. FDA completed an audit of the company's Srikakulam plant with no observations, according to an exchange filing on Friday. (http://bit.ly/2oNNcAQ).

(Reporting By Darshana Sankararaman in Bengaluru; Editing by Biju Dwarakanath)