India shares, rupee fall on Modi's call for austerity, crude price spike
- Nifty 50 fell 1.49% to 23,815.85, while the BSE Sensex shed 1.7% to 76,015.28
Indian shares fell on Monday and the rupee declined after Prime Minister Narendra Modi urged a spate of measures, including fuel conservation, fewer imports and gold purchases, as surging energy prices pressure foreign exchange reserves.
India, the world’s third-biggest oil importer and consumer, late last month said there was no proposal to raise pump prices for diesel and gasoline, leaving it among the countries yet to raise prices despite the global surge.
The Nifty 50 fell 1.49% to 23,815.85, while the BSE Sensex shed 1.7% to 76,015.28. The rupee logged a record closing low of 95.31 per dollar, dropping about 0.9% on the day - its steepest single-day drop since March 27.
Brent crude jumped more than 2.6% to about $104 a barrel after U.S. President Donald Trump on Sunday dismissed the Iranian response to Washington’s proposal for peace talks as “unacceptable.”
Arun Kejriwal, founder of Kejriwal Research and Investment Services, called the slide in markets in Monday’s session a “knee-jerk reaction” to the prime minister’s comments.
“The bigger overhang for Indian markets is oil refusing to fall and hold below $100 despite peace efforts between Iran and the U.S., which will keep weighing on sentiment,” he said.
Thirteen of the 16 major sectors logged losses. The broader small-caps and mid-caps declined about 1.5% each.
Oil marketing companies Indian Oil, BPCL and HPCL fell about 2.3%-3%.
Index heavyweight Reliance Industries lost 3.3%.
Travel-linked stocks such as Indian Hotels, Lemon Tree, Chalet Hotels, Thomas Cook and Yatra Online dropped between 1% and 4.5%.
Airline operator IndiGo lost 4.9%.
Shares of jewellers also slumped. Titan, Senco Gold and Kalyan Jewellers lost between 6.7% and 9.3%.
State Bank of India fell 4.5%, extending losses after missing quarterly profit view, dragging PSU banks 2.5% lower.
Hyundai Motor India rose 2.8% on a smaller-than-expected fall in quarterly profit, and agro chemicals firm UPL gained 3.6% on quarterly profit rise.
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