Sensex, Nifty fall as investors book profits

By Tanvi Mehta

(Reuters) - Indian shares edged down on Wednesday, paring gains of nearly 5 percent this month, as investors booked profits amid weakened global sentiment.

Asian shares fell as a rise in U.S. bond yields to 3 percent and warnings from bellwether U.S. companies of higher costs drove fears that corporate earnings growth may peak soon.

The broader Nifty was down 0.24 percent at 10,589.20 as of 0542 GMT, while the benchmark BSE Sensex was 0.18 percent lower at 34,555.95.

Both the NSE as well as the BSE indexes have risen for fourteen sessions this month, gaining nearly 5 percent as of Tuesday's close.

"Global perspective is making investors nervous. Investors are taking profits from the table," said Saurabh Jain, AVP research at SMC Global Securities.

Financial stocks dropped, with HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank dragging down the indexes.

The Nifty metal index fell 1 percent, after gaining 7.8 percent in the past month on rising global prices.

Vedanta Ltd and Hindalco Industries Ltd declined over 1.5 percent each.

The Nifty IT index, however, rose as much as 1.6 percent as a weaker Indian rupee helped send shares of IT exporters higher.

India's top mobile carrier Bharti Airtel Ltd rose over 5 percent, after the company's fourth quarter results beat expectations of a loss and as it approved a merger of its mobile masts unit with Indus Towers.

(Reporting by Tanvi Mehta in Bengaluru; Editing by Biju Dwarakanath)