Indian shares slip

Indian shares erased early gains and slipped 0.1 percent on Wednesday, hurt by foreign fund outflows as rising borrowing costs and stubborn inflation chipped away investor confidence, leading to a bleak near-term outlook. Weak European shares, ahead of a US Federal Reserve policy meeting, also weighed.
Traders said investors were mostly churning their portfolios, picking up stocks that had fallen in recent sessions and booking profits in counters that had gained. Top mobile operator Bharti led the losses with a 2.5 percent decline, erasing some of the nearly 6 percent gains seen in the past three sessions.
Hindustan Unilever, a unit of Anglo-Dutch Unilever Plc, dropped 3.6 percent. However, it is still up 8.2 percent in the quarter that started in April. The 30-share BSE index dropped 0.06 percent or 9.67 points to 17,550.63, with 16 components declining, having risen as much as 0.7 percent in early trade. It was its fifth decline in the past six sessions.
"There is a lack of interest. FIIs (foreign institutional investors) have been selling," said K.K. Mital, head of portfolio management services at Globe Capital. FIIs have sold a net $505 million of Indian shares in seven sessions to June 20, as rising borrowing costs hurt economic growth and bite into corporate profit margins. The benchmark has fallen 14.4 percent in the year to date, with foreign funds pulling out $453 million on slowing corporate earnings growth as rising interest rates bite spending.
State-run explorer Oil & Natural Gas Corp firmed 1.9 percent. The stock had shed 4.8 percent in the past three sessions. Drugmaker Sun Pharmaceutical rose 1.4 percent after its unit received approval from the US Food and Drug Administration to market a generic version of sumatriptan succinate injection, that is used in the treatment of migraine. Engineering and construction firm Larsen & Toubro gained 0.7 percent, after falling more than 2 percent over the last two sessions.
The 50-share NSE index rose 0.05 percent to 5,278.30 points. More than two shares declined for every share that advanced in the broader market, on a volume of 545 million shares on the NSE, lower than its 90-day daily average volume of 601 million shares.