INDIA STOCKS-Indian shares begin 2023 with weekly losses on earnings, Fed worries

Updates closing levels

BENGALURU, Jan 6 (Reuters) - Indian shares began 2023 with weekly losses, with investors ahead of the earnings season after recent warnings by some major companies.

Strong U.S. jobs data, which indicated the Federal Reserve could keep hiking rates, also weighed.

On Friday, the Nifty 50 index closed 0.74% lower at 17,859.45. The S&P BSE Sensex .BSESN lost 0.75% to 59,900.37, closing below 60,000 for the first time in over a week.

The two indexes have retreated for the third session in a row . The Nifty 50, which traded between 50-day and 100-day simple moving averages for ten sessions, closed below the 100-day support on Friday.

"The in the markets over the last few sessions is due to muted earnings expectations, like the kind we saw with Bajaj Finance and FMCG companies," said Aishvarya Dadheech, director and fund manager at Ambit Asset Management.

Earlier this week, shadow lender Bajaj Finance BJFN.NS reported moderate growth in quarterly loans, while Godrej Consumer Products GOCP.NS and Marico MRCO.NS had flagged muted rural demand.

Dabur DABU.NS on Friday closed 3.47% down after the company warned of hits to its margins in the third quarter due to currency movements in international business and inflation.

Overnight, U.S. data showed private employers hired more workers than expected in December, suggesting strength in the labour market that could allow the Fed to boost interest rates.

Investors are already about high rates slowing economic growth and that does bode well for Indian IT services companies, which get a large part of their revenue from the U.S. market.

IT stocks .NIFTYIT tumbled 2%, the most among the 13 major sectors, while the high-weightage financials .NIFTYFIN dropped 1%.

Thirty- of the Nifty 50 constituents fell, led by JSW Steel and Tata Consultancy Services TCS.NS, which slid about 3%. TCS is scheduled to report results on Monday.

($1 = 82.5680 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Bharath Rajeswaran in Bengaluru; Editing by Savio D'Souza and Janane Venkatraman)

((Bharath.rajeswaran@thomsonreuters.com))