Indian shares track Asian peers lower; Reliance hits record high
BENGALURU - Indian shares followed Asian peers lower on Wednesday, with all major sectors posting losses, as appetite for risky assets soured over fears about a global economic slowdown, while conglomerate Reliance Industries scaled a record high.
The NSE Nifty 50 index was down 0.66% at 17,086.45, as of 0427 GMT, while the S&P BSE Sensex fell 0.57% to 57,037.54. Both the indexes rose more than 1% each in the previous session.
The roller coaster ride in markets is set to continue in the near-term, V.K. Vijayakumar, chief investment strategist at Geojit Financial Services, said in a note.
Global stocks were hurt by news of Russia cutting gas supplies to Eastern Europe, prospects of aggressive U.S. interest rate hikes, worries over sky-high inflation and stringent COVID-19-related curbs in China.
The MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan fell 1.1% to its lowest level since March 15. [MKTS/GLOB]
In India, stocks across sectors lost ground. Just three of the 50 stocks on the Nifty 50 index gained.
Nifty's small-cap index fell 1.3% and the mid-cap index slipped 1%. Nifty's volatility index, an indicator of the degree of volatility traders expect over the next 30 days, rose 6.6%.
Hindustan Unilever was down 1.1% ahead of quarterly results, while Bajaj Finance fell more than 5% to a five-week low and was the top percentage loser on the Nifty 50.
Bucking the trend, Reliance Industries extended gains to a second session, jumping 1%.
The conglomerate said on Tuesday it signed a formal shareholder agreement for a deal it had announced with TA'ZIZ for Ruwais Chemicals Project last year.
Reliance also said it had signed a new strategic agreement with ADNOC (Abu Dhabi National Oil Company) on upstream collaboration and decarbonization of operations.
Mahindra Logistics jumped 10% following quarterly results, while Care Ratings tumbled 11% after saying its CEO had resigned https://www.bseindia.com/xml-data/corpfiling/AttachLive/6e54a4b8-3ca1-485e-9632-6f6a53136d41.pdf.
