Indian shares slip from 3-month highs

BENGALURU, Jan 18 (Reuters) - Indian shares gave up early gains to inch lower on Tuesday, hurt by losses in infrastructure stocks and high-flying automakers, while investors awaited earnings from heavyweight Bajaj Finance due later in the day.
The NSE Nifty 50 index (.NSEI) fell 0.47% to 18,221.25 by 0446 GMT, while the S&P BSE Sensex (.BSESN) slipped 0.4% to 61,061.39, after touching near three-month highs earlier in the session.
"Stocks moved up quite sharply from recent lows, so there is some element of caution in the market, especially in the run-up to the federal budget," said Mayuresh Joshi, head of equity research at William O'Neil & Co in India.
The Nifty and Sensex are off to a flying start this year and have gained nearly 12% from lows hit in December, on jumps in auto and energy stocks despite a spike in COVID-19 cases. The indexes are around 2% shy of record highs touched in October.
"Investors will take cues from the results season which has been good so far, but there are also a lot of global headwinds right now. Inflationary pressures and supply chain constraints are very evident globally."