Indian shares hold near 5-mth lows as US banking crisis weighs

BENGALURU: Indian shares, on Tuesday, held the near five-month lows hit in the previous session as a US banking crisis unnerved investors globally.

The Nifty 50 index was down 0.2% to 17,127, while the S&P BSE Sensex dropped 0.14% to 58,158.09 as of 09:20 a.m. IST.

The fallout from the collapse of US lenders Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank widened overnight despite government efforts to shore up confidence, hitting bank shares globally.

Indian banks were among the top drags, falling 0.4% and 0.7%, respectively, even as analysts said the country’s lenders were insulated from the US banking crisis.

Meanwhile, India’s annual retail inflation rate eased to 6.44% in February from 6.52% in January but stayed above the Reserve Bank of India’s upper threshold for a second straight month.

Indian shares hit 5-month low on sell-off in financial stocks

Investors will now focus on the US inflation data, due later in the day, for cues on the rate hike trajectory amid expectations that the US Federal Reserve could now become less hawkish given the banking crisis.