Sensex little changed as investors digest raid fallout

REUTERS - Indian shares were nearly unchanged in choppy trade on Friday, as investors turned cautious a day after India said it had conducted "surgical strikes" on suspected militants preparing to infiltrate from Pakistan-ruled Kashmir.

Sentiment also took a hit as global shares slumped on worries about the health of Deutsche Bank and as oil prices pulled back from near-one month highs on scepticism over OPEC's new plan to curb output.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan fell more than 1 percent, while Wall Street too lost about a percent on Thursday. [O/R] Indian officials said on Thursday elite troops crossed into Pakistan-ruled Kashmir and killed suspected militants preparing to infiltrate and carry out attacks on major cities, in a surprise raid that raised tensions between the nuclear-armed rivals.

Share markets in India and Pakistan fell after news of the raid on Thursday, with the Nifty falling as much 2.1 percent to its lowest since Aug. 29, while Pakistan's benchmark 100-share index dropped as much as 0.5 percent.

"The market will need some time to digest this problem...and it will wait and watch for a few days," said Vinod Nair, head of research with Geojit BNP Paribas Financial Securities.

The Nifty was down 0.02 percent at 8,589.95 by 0618 GMT on Friday, while the Sensex was 0.08 percent lower at 27,804.41.

Among the gainers, the Nifty IT index rose as much as 0.77 percent after two straight sessions of decline, led by Infosys Ltd and Wipro Ltd.

Auto stocks such as Eicher Motors Ltd and Mahindra and Mahindra Ltd gained as much as 2.53 percent and 1.76 percent, respectively.

Some financial stocks took a hit, with Housing Development Finance Corp among the top losers on the NSE index, falling as much as 1.40 percent.

Alkem Laboratories Ltd slumped as much as 8.80 pct to its lowest in two weeks, after the company on Thursday said it got 13 observations from the US FDA after an inspection at its Daman unit.

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