By Vivek Kumar M and Indranil Sarkar
(Reuters) – India’s benchmark indexes fell to their lowest in eight months on Monday, weighed by sharp losses in heavyweight financials and information technology stocks, as concerns over slowing growth in the United States spooked investors.
The Nifty 50 and the BSE Sensex were down 1% each at 22,568.50 and 74601.88 points, respectively, as of 09:46 a.m. IST. They hit their lowest since early June.
The benchmarks have been under pressure for most of February, falling in 15 out of 17 trading sessions, on consistent foreign outflows, uncertainty about U.S. tariff policies and concerns over slowing domestic growth.
The session’s drop comes on the back of data on Friday showing that U.S. business activity tumbled in February, indicating that businesses and consumers were becoming increasingly rattled by policies of U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration.
Twelve of the 13 major sectors fell on the day, with financials and information technology falling 1.4% and 2.2%, respectively, which analysts said was due to a sell-off from foreign portfolio investors, who have substantial exposure to these sectors.
Two analysts said that slowing growth in the world’s largest economy does not bode well for export-driven sectors such as the information technology due to their high revenue contribution from the U.S.
The index was the top percentage loser of the day.
Indian equities were sharply underperforming Asian peers, most of which were also trading lower. [MKTS/GLOB]
The underperformance was mainly due to underlying weak sentiment due to concerns over tapering off of earnings growth, Sunny Agrawal, equity analyst at SBICAPS Securities, said.
Meanwhile, the pharma index was the only sector in green, finding its footing after sharp losses last week due to fears of U.S. tariffs on the sector.
Healthcare Global Enterprises rose 3.5% on private equity firm KKR’s $400 million stake-purchase plan.
The broader midcap and smallcap indexes were down 1.2% each.
(Reporting by Vivek Kumar M and Indranil Sarkar in Bengaluru; Editing by Rashmi Aich, Varun H K and Mrigank Dhaniwala)
