Indian shares fell 1.5 percent on Friday, the sharpest in more than a month, with financial and energy stocks leading the decline. The benchmark BSE index declined 1.51 percent to 33,176, ending 0.4 percent lower for the week.
The broader NSE index fell 1.59 percent to 10,195.15, ending down 0.3 percent for the week. Both indexes posted their third straight weekly drop.
"It's (market downtrend) a continuation of the general trend, we're looking at a global overhang as well," said Jayant Manglik, president, Religare Broking. Meanwhile, India's trade deficit narrowed to $12 billion in February, its lowest in five months, amid concerns that a global trade war could hit exports due to US President Donald Trump's decision to hike import taxes on steel and aluminium.
The Nifty Energy index fell for the third consecutive session, having lost nearly 2 percent in the past two sessions. Indian Oil Corp and Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd were down over 2 percent each. Financial stocks continued their downtrend, with Housing Development Finance Corp Ltd and HDFC Bank Ltd leading the falls on the NSE index.
Religare Enterprises Ltd shares pared losses, having earlier shed nearly 5 percent after Edelweiss Financial Services Ltd terminated its deal to buy Religare's securities business for want of necessary approvals. Edelweiss shares gained marginally. Mahindra and Mahindra Ltd was the top percentage gainer, rising as much as 2.3 percent after Jefferies upgraded the stock to 'buy'.
Comments
Comments are closed for this article.