Indian shares slip on elevated crude, Ambani's Jio IPO sees strong demand

Indian shares fell on Wednesday as higher crude oil prices kept investors wary, while the IPO of billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s Jio Platforms was fully subscribed within hours of launch.

The benchmark Nifty 50 fell 0.34% to 22,811.35, and the Sensex lost 0.19% to 73,709.69. They had risen about 1% in early trading.

Jio Platforms’ $3.2 billion IPO was fully subscribed within two hours of public bidding opening, as investors flocked to India’s largest share sale and the first from Ambani’s Reliance in two decades.

“The tremendous response to the IPO comes on the back of strong pedigree of Reliance and given that Jio is a household name in India,” said Kranthi Bathini, director of equity strategy at WealthMills Securities.

Meanwhile, Brent crude futures rose 1.5% to over $110 per barrel on Middle East supply fears and US inventory drawdowns.

“With Brent crude prices and US bond yields remaining elevated, the market is likely to remain under pressure. The sell on rally construct will continue in the near-term,” said VK Vijayakumar, chief investment strategist at Geojit Financial Services.

Higher oil prices are a challenge for India, which imports most of its requirements, as they add to the import bill, strain the country’s fiscal deficit and hit corporate profits.

Barring information technology, all major sectors fell. The broader small-caps and mid-caps lost 2.4% and 1.6%, respectively.

Heavyweight financials fell 1.2%. India’s largest non-bank lender Bajaj Finance dropped 3.3% after flagging early signs of stress in loans against gold.

Auto and metals stocks slid 1.5% and 1.7%, respectively.

The IT index jumped 2.9%. Jefferies said steady earnings and worsening global sentiment on AI capex could drive a re-rating for some IT stocks.

L&T Technology Services jumped 10.5% after reporting higher revenue and profit for the September quarter.