STOCKHOLM (Reuters) -Finnish telecom gear group Nokia on Thursday reported a drop in second-quarter profit due to a drop in margin as growth in sales of 5G gear in markets such as India failed to offset slowing demand in North America.

Comparable operating profit fell to 626 million euros ($702.37 million) from 714 million euros last year.

Nokia and rival Ericsson have been hit by slowing orders from customers, mostly in their high-margin North American markets. Ericsson last week reported a 62% fall in quarterly adjusted operating profit, slightly above market expectations.

"We now see second half net sales broadly similar to the first half in both Network Infrastructure and Mobile Networks with some sequential improvement visible into Q4," Chief Executive Officer Pekka Lundmark said in a statement.

Nokia had also cut its 2023 sales outlook of 23.2-24.6 billion euros from 24.6-26.2 billion, and narrowed its comparable operating margin range outlook to 11.5-13% from 11.5-14% previously.

(Reporting by Supantha Mukherjee in Stockholm; editing by Niklas Pollard)