Indian shares decline as Reliance drags energy stocks lower; Paytm down
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BENGALURU- Indian shares slipped on Monday as market heavyweight Reliance Industries led energy stocks lower and the return of COVID-19 restrictions in Europe weighed on investor sentiment.
The blue-chip NSE Nifty 50 index dropped 0.61% to 17,656.20, while the benchmark S&P BSE Sensex fell 0.65% to 59,250.74 by 0357 GMT.
Shares of Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries fell 3.71% after the oil giant said last week it had decided with Saudi Aramco to reevaluate a proposed $15 billion stake sale in its oil-to-chemicals arm to Saudi Aramco.
The Nifty Energy Index fell 1.75%, led by losses in Reliance. Other laggards on the sub-index were state-run Oil and Natural Gas Corp, down 2.85%, and Tata Power Company, down 2.07%.
Oil futures skidded about 1%, sending Brent crude and U.S. crude to seven-week lows amid oversupply concerns.
Shares of Paytm fell about 3% in their second day of trading. On Thursday, the digital payments start-up made one of the worst major stock market debuts in India, as its shares fell more than 27% after the country's largest-ever IPO.
Asian stocks opened lower as investors evaluated oil prices, COVID-19 restrictions in Europe and talk of hastened tapering from the U.S. Federal Reserve.
