Indian shares drop

Indian shares drifted lower on Monday, dragged down by energy major Reliance Industries and profit booking by traders after the market ended at its highest closing level in four weeks in the previous session. The main 30-share BSE index ended down 0.34 percent at 17,025.09, with 12 of its components declining. Indian shares have fallen about 17 percent so far this year, but gained 5.2 percent last week.
"There is a sort of consolidation underway in the market. Traders are booking profits after several days of rally," said Alex Mathews, head of research at Geogit BNP Paribas financial services. Beaten down financial stocks such as State Bank of India and ICICI Bank climbed on value buying, while automaker Tata Motors rose after reporting robust global sales for September.
India's most valuable company Reliance Industries closed 3.8 percent lower at 833.80 rupees as investors worried over slowing gas output and refining margins that came below expectations. Reliance Industries, the heaviest stock in the main index, had risen 2.4 percent on Friday to its highest close in about 2-1/2 months ahead of its results.
CLSA lowered its rating on Reliance to "outperform" from "buy" and cut its target price to 950 rupees from 960, citing premium to global peers and weak gross refining margins. Software services firms were weak on profit booking after a sharp rally following the Infosys results last week. The IT index fell 0.5 percent.
Top software servicer exporter Tata Consultancy services, ended down 1.3 percent ahead of its quarterly results later in the day. TCS is expected to report a 16.5 percent rise in profit for the September quarter. Rival Infosys ended almost flat, while Wipro was down 1.8 percent. Top lender State Bank of India gained 0.5 percent to 1,891.80 rupees on value buying after having fallen 24 percent in three months. Smaller rivals ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank rose 0.95 and 0.9 percent, respectively. The 50-share NSE index shed 0.27 percent to end at 5,118.25. In the broader market, there were 686 gainers for 743 losers on total volume of about 480 million shares.