Indian shares fell sharply on Friday, tracking Asian peers that dropped after a selloff in high-flying technology stocks on Wall Street, with financials and conglomerate Reliance Industries Ltd also weighing on the markets.
By 0347 GMT, the blue-chip NSE Nifty 50 index fell 1.55% to 11,348.60, while the S&P BSE Sensex slid 1.49% to 38,413.36.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan fell 1.6% after Wall Street’ main indexes marked their deepest one-day declines since June.
In Mumbai, losses were broad based, with all stocks on the Nifty trading lower.
The Nifty bank index fell 2.3% after India’s top court on Thursday directed banks not to declare any loans that were standard as of end-August as non-performing until further orders, raising uncertainty over recovery efforts. HDFC Bank Ltd was among the top drags on the Nifty, falling 1.8%
Also dragging the Nifty was India’s most valuable company, Reliance Industries Ltd, which fell 1.2%.