Sensex falls on global growth worries, weak China data

REUTERS - Indian shares surrendered earlier gains and headed for their second straight session of falls on Tuesday, tracking subdued regional stock markets as weak China factory data rekindled global growth worries.

Asian stocks erased earlier gains, while European shares opened lower on data showing China's factories shrank for the 14th straight month in April.

Broader risk aversion also seeped into domestic stocks, with investors booking profits in recent outperformers such as Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd and Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd .

However, analysts remained optimistic about the health of the domestic economy after strong auto sales data for April and amid hopes of good monsoon rains.

 

"Good auto numbers are supporting sentiment and expectations are building up for demand picking up in the future after above-average monsoon forecast," said K.K. Mital, head of portfolio management at Globe Capital Market.

The broader NSE Nifty was down 0.6 percent at 7,759.23 as of 0821 GMT, after rising as much as 1 percent earlier in the session.

The benchmark BSE Sensex was 0.72 percent lower at 25,253.31.

Recent outperformers led the falls with Sun Pharmaceutical down 1.6 percent after gaining 1.3 percent in the previous two sessions, while Lupin dropped 2.3 percent after rising nearly 3 percent in the last three sessions.

Kotak Mahindra Bank fell 2 percent after gaining 2.4 percent in the last two sessions.

Coal India declined 2.2 percent after the miner posted a 3.4 percent drop in April coal output while coal offtake was down 2.5 percent. (http://bit.ly/1TifOqb)

Among the gainers, Tata Motors rose 1.5 percent after the automaker posted a 10 percent jump in April sales.

Aurobindo Pharma jumped 4 percent after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved its epilepsy prevention drug lacosamide.

Future Retail Ltd , which operates Big Bazaar and Home Town retail chains, was up 1 percent after the Business Line newspaper reported that U.S. footwear major Skechers Inc would raise its stake in Future Group.

(Reporting by Aastha Agnihotri in Bengaluru; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu)