BENGALURU, Sept 7 (Reuters) - Indian shares edged lower on
Monday as the country became the second-worst hit with
coronavirus cases and a continued selloff in Wall Street made
investors jittery, while they awaited an announcement from
Vodafone Idea Ltd later in the day.
Coronavirus infections surged past 4.2 million, making India
overtake Brazil to be the country with the second-highest number
of cases.
The blue-chip NSE Nifty 50 index was down 0.21% at
11,309.60, while the benchmark S&P BSE Sensex fell
0.19% to 38,284.65 as of 0459 GMT.
Japan's Nikkei fell 0.3% and China's blue-chip index
slipped 0.2% on concerns of high valuations after Wall
Street closed lower on Friday as a sell-off continued in
technology stocks.
"As far as the Indian economy is concerned, we are seeing
mixed signals as of now ... global sentiment is negative,
institutional investors have started taking profits," said Anita
Gandhi, director at Arihant Capital Markets.
"For work to resume and for normalcy to come, ultimately the
number of (coronavirus) cases need to come in control," Gandhi
added.
Vodafone Idea rose as much as 10%. The debt-laden company
has scheduled a media announcement at 0630 GMT later in the day.
On Friday, the telecom service provider said it would raise
up to 250 billion rupees ($3.41 billion) in fresh funds, as it
tries to pay off hefty dues it owes to the government.
The Nifty energy index and the Nifty pharma
index fell 0.46% and 0.56% respectively.
India's most valuable bank HDFC was the top drag
on the Nifty, falling as much as 1.6%, while telecom
infrastructure company Bharti Infratel Ltd rose as
much as 5.2%.
(Reporting by Anuron Kumar Mitra in Bengaluru; Editing by
Shounak Dasgupta)