Indian shares fell on Monday, weighed down by persistent concerns about the still unresolved European debt crisis after Spanish region of Valencia said it might seek financial aid and Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras said his country is in a "Great Depression".
Key benchmark indexes in Australia, China, Hong Kong, Japan and South Korea are down between 1.2 percent and 2.6 percent, commodities are drifting lower and the euro is hovering below 95 yen for the first time in nearly 12 years.
Closer home, the benchmark 30-share Sensex is currently down 154 points or 0.9 percent at 17,005, while the broader Nifty index is down 48 points or 0.91 percent at 5,158. Metal, power, auto and realty stocks are bearing the brunt of the selling, while healthcare and IT stocks are little changed.
Market heavyweight Reliance Industries is down 0.4 percent after the energy giant reported a 21 percent fall in first-quarter net profit, marking its third consecutive drop in quarterly profits.
Telecom stocks are retreating on reports that an empowered ministerial panel has finalized plans for selling second-generation (2G) radio airwaves. Bharti Airtel is losing 1.5 percent and Idea Cellular is moving down 1.3 percent.
Reliance Communication is tumbling 3.3 percent after it shelved a planned initial public offering of a unit that holds its undersea-cable assets, citing adverse market conditions.
Cairn India is losing a percent and Hindustan Unilever is down 0.6 percent ahead of their Q1 results due today. Maruti Suzuki India is retreating 5 percent as the company declared a lock out at its Manesar plant due to violence at the facility. TCS is marginally lower on going ex-dividend.
Godrej Industries is down 2.8 percent after it fixed the price band for the sale of shares to qualified institutional buyers. Crompton Greaves is plunging 5.3 percent on posting dismal quarterly results.
Larsen and Toubro is down half a percent, while Pipavav Defence is rising half a percent after they signed two separate agreements with the nation's biggest naval shipyard, Mazagon Dock, to construct surface warships and conventional submarines for the defense sector.
Tata Power is gaining 0.4 percent after signing a long-term coal supply pact with an Indonesian firm.
by RTT Staff Writer
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