Meanwhile, Indian investors await retail inflation data,
which likely eased to 6.35% in February, though still above the
RBI's upper threshold for a second straight month, a Reuters
poll of 43 economists showed.
(Reporting by Nallur Sethuraman and Nishit Navin in Bengaluru;
Editing by Janane Venkatraman and Dhanya Ann Thoppil)
(Adds analyst quote, closing levels)
By Nishit Navin
BENGALURU, March 13 (Reuters) - Indian shares fell to a
five-month low on Monday, dragged by a selloff in financial
stocks, as the Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) collapse weakened
investor sentiment.
The Nifty 50 index closed down 1.5% to 17,154.30,
while the S&P BSE Sensex dropped 1.52% to 58,237.85.
Meanwhile, U.S. authorities on Sunday announced plans to
limit the fallout from the SVB collapse, easing fears of
contagion.
"The market has reverted to panic mode," said Anand James,
chief market strategist at Geojit Financial Services.
"It is more of a fund liquidation rather than a bank-related
issue," James said, adding that banks, in general, are also
finding themselves on "shaky ground" with more central banks set
to come up with rate decisions.
Market bets have changed dramatically, with participants now
betting an 80.4% chance of a 25-basis point (bps) rate hike by
the U.S. Federal Reserve in March instead of a 50-bps increase,
with the rest expecting a status quo. Indian analysts don't expect a ripple effect on the domestic
financial system from the SVB crisis to last long.
Bank stocks dropped 2.3%, while public sector
banks fell 2.9%. Auto companies lost
2.2%.
IndusInd Bank Ltd was the top loser in the Nifty
as well among banking stocks, sliding 7.4%.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) approved a
less-than-proposed period as the tenure of re-appointment of the
private lender's chief executive officer (CEO), said analysts.
On the flip side, Indian IT services provider Tech Mahindra jumped nearly 7% after it named Infosys veteran Mohit
Joshi as the new CEO.
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