Indian shares opened lower on Friday, dragged by high-weightage financials and on weak global cues, after the European Central Bank hiked rates and concerns over the US banking sector resurfaced with the collapse of PacWest Bancorp.
The Nifty 50 was down 0.54 per cent at 18,156.55, while the S&P BSE Sensex lost 0.61 per cent.
Eight of the 13 major sectoral indexes declined, with high weightage financials losing 1.5 per cent. The sharp slide in financials was led by Housing Development Finance Corporation which fell over 5 per cent. HDFC and HDFC Bank were among the top Nifty 50 losers.
The fall in HDFC twins comes after an update on MSCI implementation for HDFC twins post-merger.