Stock markets head for biggest daily decline in nearly a month

MUMBAI (Reuters) - India's stock markets fell more than one percent on Monday, heading towards their biggest daily fall in nearly a month, as blue-chip stocks such as ICICI Bank Ltd declined on risk aversion linked to Greece, while IT stocks such as Infosys Ltd fell on caution ahead of quarterly earnings.

Asian stocks hit a six-month trough and the euro stumbled on Monday after a Greek vote against austerity measures endangered its future in the single currency and raised the risk of a full-blown crisis in the euro zone.

IT firms' earnings are expected to be soft amid profit warnings by companies such as Tech Mahindra , Persistent Systems , due to client-specific and cross-currency issues.

 

"We have been saying for months now, India has nothing to worry about, this is a European problem," said G. Chokkalingam, founder of Equinomics, a Mumbai-based research and fund advisory firm.

Chokkalingam said he expects to see only a marginal improvement in corporate earnings for the quarter ended June.

The 30-share BSE Sensex was down 0.4 percent after earlier falling as much as 1.1 percent and the 50-share Nifty was trading 0.3 percent lower, heading towards their biggest intra-day declines since June 11.

Blue-chips stocks led the decline. ICICI Bank fell 1.2 percent, while Tata Motors lost 1.8 percent.

IT stocks also fell. Infosys shed 1 percent, while Tech Mahindra fell 1.6 percent.

(Reporting by Karen Rebelo in Mumbai; Editing by Prateek Chatterjee)