Indian shares extend losses

Indian shares extended the previous week's losses and shed 0.3 percent on Monday, tracking a fall in global equities, as growing United States and eurozone debt worries kept investors away from risk. Financial health checks on European banks failed to address the potential for a Greek sovereign default, further hurting sentiment for equity.
The 30-share BSE index erased early gains and declined 54.88 points to 18,507.04 points, adding to last week's 1.6 percent decline. Nineteen of its components lost ground. Export-oriented software companies led the decline.
"There is a lot of uncertainty right now. Even before eurozone debt woes were done with, there are concerns over US debt," said Mehul Dedhia, assistant vice-president of sales at brokerage Sharekhan.
However, Dedhia ruled out a steep downside in the near term and said the 50-share Nifty was likely to hover between 5,400 and 5,700 in the near term.
The NSE index closed 0.3 percent lower at 5,567.05 points.
"Earnings, as and when they pour in, and the progress of monsoon will provide a clear picture of the situation on the ground," he added.
Foreign funds have invested a net of $2.6 billion in Indian equities since June 23 as economic woes in the developed world prompted them to shift focus towards emerging economies, but dealers termed it as a temporary shift of funds, and said the overall risk appetite was tapering off.
Data from fund tracker EPFR showed long-only dedicated emerging market equity funds had net inflows of $878 million while the broader global emerging market funds had $1.02 billion in net inflows in the week to July 13. Foreign funds were sellers of Indian equities in at least one session last week, raising doubts over the sustainability of inflows.
For the week to July 13, BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India, China) funds suffered $105 million in net redemptions.
Concerns over the global economy weighed on the outlook for outsourcing firms. The IT sector index shed a further 0.8 percent, after falling more than 5 percent last week.
Leading IT companies Tata Consultancy Services, Infosys and Wipro shed between 0.3 percent and 1.8 percent. These companies derive a majority of their revenue from the United States and Europe.
Metal producers Sterlite Industries and Hindalco rallied 0.4 percent and 3.3 percent, respectively, as base metal prices firmed in international trade.
Copper edged higher in London and Shanghai on Monday, supported by near-term supply risks although a cloudy outlook for global demand limited gains.
Participation was low with only 405 million shares changing hands on the NSE, compared with the 90-day average daily volume of 577 million shares.
Market breadth was positive, with advancing shares outnumbering declining ones in the ratio of 1.1 to 1.