Indian shares slip on outflows, US trade deal uncertainty

(Updates for morning trade)

By Vivek Kumar M

Dec 15 (Reuters) - India's equity benchmarks dropped in early trade on Monday, as foreign outflows and uncertainty regarding a trade deal with the U.S. kept investors jittery, pushing the rupee to a record low.

The Nifty 50 was down 0.51% at 25,913.45 points and the BSE Sensex lost 0.46% to 84,875.85 as of 9:30 a.m. IST. The rupee hit a record low of 90.56 per dollar, extending its recent slide.

All the 16 major sectors fell. Small-caps and mid-caps were down 0.2% and 0.5%, respectively.

"A major drag on the market continues to be the elusive U.S.-India trade deal which is impacting India's exports to the U.S., widening of trade deficit and continuous depreciation in the rupee," said VK Vijayakumar, chief investment strategist at Geojit Investments.

U.S. imposed steep tariffs on Indian goods earlier this year, partly to punish the South Asian country for its Russian oil purchases. India's chief economic advisor said last week that a trade deal is likely only by March.

Foreign investors sold shares worth 11.1 billion rupees ($122.6 million) on Friday, as per provisional data, in their sixth consecutive session of selling. Outflows total $2 billion so far in December.

Heaviest-weighted financials, in which foreign investors have a higher exposure, fell 0.5% and were the biggest laggard on the Nifty.

Among stocks, Oil and Natural Gas Corp slipped 3% and was the top Nifty loser. Axis Capital initiated coverage on the shares with a "sell" rating due to the state-run firm's declining oil production and muted oil prices outlook.

KEC International jumped 3.5% after securing orders worth 11.5 billion rupees ($126.9 million) in the transmission and distribution segment, and civil business. ($1 = 90.6300 Indian rupees) (Reporting by Vivek Kumar M in Bengaluru; Editing by Eileen Soreng and Mrigank Dhaniwala)