INDIA STOCKS-Indian shares open flat as Tata Motors, IT offset broader gains

Updates for markets open

Jan 30 (Reuters) - India's benchmark indexes were muted at the open on Thursday, as a drop in Tata Motors TAMO.NS and IT stocks offset gains in most sectors.

The Nifty 50 .NSEI traded flat at 23,174.7 points as of 9:25 a.m. IST, while the BSE Sensex .BSESN lost 0.03% to 76,517.62.

The auto index .NIFTYAUTO declined 1.2%, with Tata Motors dropping about 8.5% after reporting a fall in third-quarter profit, weighed down by weakness in its luxury Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) business and as domestic car sales slowed.

The IT index .NIFTYIT retreated 0.5% after rising 2.6% in the previous session.

Nine of the 13 major sectors advanced at the open.

The broader, more domestically focussed smallcaps .NIFSMCP100 and midcaps .NIFMDCP100 rose 0.5% and 0.4%, respectively.

Among individual stocks, non-bank lender Bajaj Finance BJFN.NS rose 4% after it reported a bigger quarterly profit due to strong loan growth.

Wall Street equities closed lower overnight, while Asian markets were muted on Thursday, after the U.S. central bank stood pat on its rates, as expected. Higher U.S. interest rates make emerging markets such as India less attractive for overseas investors.