Indian shares were off to a muted start on Thursday, on fragile investor sentiment globally after Credit Suisse, one of Europe’s top lenders, added to worries about a crisis in the financial sector.
The Nifty 50 index was down 0.44% at 16,985.90, while the S&P BSE Sensex fell 0.42% to 57,311.13 as of 9:35 a.m. IST.
Eight of the 13 major sectoral indexes logged losses, with high weightage financials falling 0.2% and information technology stocks losing 0.6%. Metals index fell over 2% and was the top sectoral loser.
The Nifty 50 has fallen 4.4% in the past five sessions, while the Nifty financials index has slid 5.3%.
The broad-based slide comes after weakness in global markets, on risks of contagion in the global financial sector, after Credit Suisse’s biggest shareholder said it could not provide the Swiss Bank with more funding.
Credit Suisse stock plunged as much as 30% to a record low overnight. However, by the end of the day, Switzerland’s central bank had pledged to fund the company.
The weakness in sentiment gripped Asian markets. The MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan were down 1.02%.
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