Indian shares drop to over one-week lows on tech slump
BENGALURU (Reuters) -Indian shares closed at their lowest in more than a week on Wednesday as rising bond yields globally sparked a selloff in technology stocks and non-bank lender Bajaj Finance slumped on valuation concerns.
The blue-chip NSE Nifty 50 index fell 0.96% to 17,938.4 and the S&P BSE Sensex dropped 1.1% to 60,098.82.
Stocks in Asia and Europe were also lower as U.S. and European bond yields hit multi-year highs, leaving investors bracing for tighter monetary policy to tame surging inflation. [MKTS/GLOB]
Higher U.S. yields tend to be make risky assets like emerging market equities less attractive, leading to outflows of funds from the region.
Analysts have also said that Indian equities, which have staged a sharp rally from lows hit in December, would consolidate ahead of the annual budget due next month and look to corporate earnings for further direction.
The Nifty IT index was the worst hit among sub-indexes, tumbling 2.1% to its lowest since late-December. IT major Infosys slid 2.8%.
Heavyweight Bajaj Finance gave up early gains to slump 2.2% as analysts pointed to concerns about steep valuations. The stock had jumped nearly 4% earlier in the session after the lender reported strong results on Tuesday.
Power company JSW Energy jumped 3.3% as its quarterly profit more than doubled.
Oil and gas explorer Oil and Natural Gas Corp climbed nearly 4% as crude prices surged. The Nifty Energy index gained 1%.
Automaker and Nifty component Bajaj Auto rose 1.1% ahead of its quarterly results.
