Indian shares slipped on Thursday, as investors continued to book profits on some of the year's top pandemic bets such as IT services, while shifting money to companies set to benefit from an economic recovery next year.
Most sectors were trading lower but the fall in the blue-chip NSE Nifty 50 index was much less severe than Wednesday's 1.5% drop, which followed a record high for the benchmark.
IT majors Infosys and Tata Consultancy Services were the top drags on the Nifty 50, putting the Nifty IT index on course for a second straight daily fall.
The IT sector, an early winner in the pandemic as businesses moved to digitise their operations, has only climbed 3% in November, compared with double-digit gains for most others in a month that has seen record inflows from foreign institutional investors.
The Nifty 50 was down 0.25% at 12,825.35 by 0500 GMT, while the S&P BSE Sensex was 0.24% lower at 43,724.48. Both indexes are still up more than 10% this month on the back of positive COVID-19 vaccine trial results.
"We've had such a strong run-up ... in these last two days the market is just seeing profit-taking," said Saurabh Jain, assistant vice president of research at SMC Global Securities in New Delhi.
"But the overall trend and mood is positive. We haven't seen anything that can point to the trend weakening."
Construction group Larsen & Toubro and automaker Mahindra and Mahindra were among the top boosts to the Nifty 50, as investors continued to favour sectors expected to benefit from an economic recovery.
India's economy is expected to recover early next year from recession, but at a modest pace, according to a majority of economists in a Reuters poll.
Other Asian markets were trading higher on optimism around vaccines and the incoming Biden administration in the United States.