Indian markets in bear grip: Sensex down 2% as Reliance weighs heavy

Bengaluru: Indian shares declined their most in seven months on Monday, dragged by heavyweight Reliance Industries, with losses in financial, auto and oil and gas shares pulling indexes further.

The blue-chip NSE Nifty 50 index ended down 1.96 per cent at 17,416.55, while the benchmark S&P BSE Sensex declined 1.96 per cent to 58,465.89. Both indexes hit their lowest levels since September 13. Billionaire Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries fell as much as 4.94 per cent to its lowest in over two months after it decided to halt a proposed $15-billion stake sale in its oil-to-chemicals business to Saudi Arabia’s Aramco.

The conglomerate’s shares ended on Monday 4.43 per cent lower, and dragged Nifty’s Energy Index down 2.84 per cent, with nearly all components on the sub-index ending the session down.

Hitting all

Among other shares and sectors, digital payments firm Paytm fell as much as 18.57 per cent before ending down 12.8 per cent, shaving off $7.75 billion from its market value since the dismal debut of India’s biggest initial public offering last week.

“Subdued listing and continued weak trading of Paytm is a big sentimental setback to the domestic market,” Vinod Nair, head of research at Geojit Financial Services, said in a note. The Nifty public sector banks index ended down 4.5 per cent, with Indian Bank and Union Bank of India among the top losers, down 10.3 per cent and 6.50 per cent, respectively.

The auto and realty indexes were among other major losers, ending down 3.13 per cent and 4.14 per cent, respectively. Telecom stocks bucked the trend, led by Bharti Airtel, which rose to a record high and ended 3.85 per cent up after the telecom major announced tariff hikes effective November 26.