By Arnab Paul
REUTERS - Indian shares fell on Wednesday, on track for a second day of losses, dragged lower by financial stocks such as Axis Bank after the lender reported a quarterly profit slump, with weak global cues further weighing on the sentiment.
Asian shares declined, with MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan sliding 0.69 percent.
Back home, financial stocks were the biggest contributors to the market declines, with Nifty Bank index falling 1.2 percent.
Axis Bank was down 8 percent after reporting an 83 percent fall in net profit for the quarter ended September, after a sharp rise in bad loans, highlighting Indian banking sector's distressed loan burden.
"There won't be a vertical recovery and I expect Axis Bank to take a hit for another two weeks," said Anand James, chief market strategist, Geojit BNP Paribas Financial Services Ltd.
The Nifty was down 0.66 percent at 8,634.15 as of 0616 GMT, while the Sensex was trading 0.82 percent lower. Both indexes fell to their lowest in more than a week earlier in the session.
Among other losers, consumer goods heavyweights such as ITC Ltd was down 1.7 percent as investors exercised caution ahead of quarterly results scheduled later in the day.
India's largest telecom operator Bharti Airtel was among the gainers, rising as much as 3.6 percent after it reported a better-than-expected quarterly profit.
Kotak Mahindra was up 3.7 percent after reporting a 43 percent rise in quarterly net profit late on Tuesday.
Mahindra and Mahindra Financial Services rose as much 7.2 percent, its highest in four months after reporting a 14 percent increase in assets under management as of Sept. 30.
(Reporting by Arnab Paul in Bengaluru; Editing by Amrutha Gayathri)
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