BENGALURU: Indian shares fell for a second straight day on Monday over prospects of aggressive rate hikes by the U.S. Federal Reserve and sky-high inflation, while Future Group companies tumbled after Reliance Industries called off a deal to buy its retail assets.
The NSE Nifty 50 index fell 1.27% to 16,953.95, while the S&P BSE Sensex slid 1.08% to 56,579.89.
India’s benchmark indexes have lost more than 2% so far in April, hurt by weak earnings from top technology firms, fears over the fallout of the Ukraine crisis, surging inflation and strong policy tightening signals from the Fed.
Indian shares post second weekly loss on Fed rate prospects
On Monday, stocks across the globe lost ground as traders ditched riskier assets with MSCI’s broadest index of world shares falling 0.7%.
In domestic trade, Nifty’s small-cap index settled down 2.4% and the mid-cap index closed down 2.2%.
Realty stocks led losses among major sub-indexes, closing down 3.8% at its lowest since mid March.
Nifty’s volatility index, which indicates the degree of volatility traders expect over the next 30 days, rose as much as 18.5% during the session to a near four-week high.
Future Group companies slid — Future Retail dropped 5%, Future Consumer crashed 19.4%, while Future Enterprises declined 9.5%.
Conglomerate Reliance called off its $3.4 billion deal with Future Group on Saturday, saying it “cannot be implemented” after Future’s secured creditors rejected it.
Meanwhile, Nifty’s fast-moving consumer goods sub-index closed down 1.6%, led by a 3.9% fall in Godrej Consumer Products.
Indonesia banned palm oil exports on Friday in a shock move that could worsen surging global food inflation. India is a major buyer of palm oil.
While the duration of the ban is unknown, the unorganised sector may face severe constraint, but given the already tough demand environment, listed players face earnings risks on demand and margins, Jefferies said in a note.
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