Indian shares track broader Asia lower; energy stocks buck trend

People walk past a new brand identity for Nifty Indices inside the National Stock Exchange (NSE) building in Mumbai, India, May 28, 2019. REUTERS/Francis Mascarenhas

BENGALURU, June 7 (Reuters) – Indian shares dropped more than 1% on Tuesday ahead of a possible rate decision from the country’s central bank, while global investors awaited U.S. inflation data and key rate decisions in Europe.

The NSE Nifty 50 index (.NSEI) was down 0.86% at 16,424.65, as of 0455 GMT, while the S&P BSE Sensex (.BSESN) fell 0.93% to 55,162.38. Both the indexes fell as much as 1.1% in early trade.

Asian shares inched lower with MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan (.MIAPJ0000PUS) falling 0.8% ahead of a slew of global economic data.

Indian stock markets have seen volatile moves in the past week as worries build over stubbornly high inflation, with the Reserve Bank of India expected to follow up its unscheduled rate hike in May with another move at the policy meeting on Wednesday. read more

On Tuesday stocks across the board tumbled with banks (.NIFTYFIN), autos (.NIFTYAUTO) and pharma stocks (.NIPHARM) falling more than 1% each.

Beaten down technology stocks (.NIFTYIT) dropped 1.8% and the sub-index is already down roughly 24% so far this year.

Financial services platform PB Fintech (PBFI.NS) fell 8.3% after it said the firm’s chief executive intends to sell 3.8 million shares via bulk deals on the stock exchange.

Consumer stocks (.NIFTYFMCG) extended losses for a third straight session, slipping 1.7% to a near two-week low.

Among the few gainers, energy stocks advanced with the Nifty Energy index (.NIFTYENR) rising 1% led by a 4.8% jump in Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC.NS).

($1 = 77.4300 Indian rupees)

Reporting by Chandini Monnappa in Bengaluru; Editing by Shailesh Kuber and Shounak Dasgupta

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