(Bloomberg) -- Indian shares declined, with the benchmark gauges extending their retreat to a third straight day. The equity indexes erased the gains they held through the day in the last half an hour.
The benchmark S&P BSE Sensex dropped 0.2 percent at the close in Mumbai, taking its February slide to 6.3 percent, putting it on course for the worst monthly performance in two years. Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd.’s 2.2 percent fall was the steepest among Sensex members after the car-and-tractor maker said Monday it will invest an additional 5 billion rupees ($77 million) on electric vehicles.
Sentiment toward Indian stocks soured this month as investors assess the impact of a long-term capital gains tax on equities along with a decision by Indian exchanges to end licensing accords with counterparts abroad, and an almost $2 billion bank fraud engulfing state-owned lenders.
“Higher valuations are a challenge and rising volatility can be worrisome if there’s a downward bias in the market,” said Sampath Reddy, chief investment officer at Pune-based Bajaj Allianz Life Insurance Co. “Factors such as the impact of tax on equities, the dispute with SGX and MSCI, bad-loan problems of banks are weighing on investor minds and leading toward negative sentiment,” he said.
The NSE Nifty 50 Index dropped 0.2 percent -- closing a second straight session below its 100-day moving average -- a trend line that has supported its rally for more than a year. The last time it fell below the mean was in November 2016, when it went on to decline more than 7 percent.
©2018 Bloomberg L.P.
RECOMMENDED FOR YOU
POPULAR