Nifty, Sensex open in red amid weak global cues

(Reuters) 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 U.S. banking sector resurfaced with the collapse of PacWest Bancorp.

The Nifty 50 was down 0.54% at 18,156.55 as of 9:17 a.m. IST, while the S&P BSE Sensex lost 0.61%.

Eight of the 13 major sectoral indexes declined, with high weightage financials losing 1.5%. The sharp slide in financials was led by Housing Development Finance Corporation Ltd which fell over 5%. HDFC and HDFC Bank Ltd were among the top Nifty 50 losers.

The fall in HDFC twins comes after an update on MSCI implementation for HDFC twins post-merger. ($1 = 81.6540 Indian rupees)