March 9 (Reuters) – Indian shares declined sharply at the open on Monday as higher crude oil prices piled pressure on the Asian country’s economy, stoking inflation worries and pushing up import costs in the world’s third-largest oil importer.
Oil prices surged about 26% in early trade to their highest since July 2022.
The Nifty 50 slid 2.38% at 23,868.05 and the BSE Sensex shed 2.36% to 77,056.75 as of 9:15 a.m. IST.
All 16 major sectors logged losses at the open. The broader small-caps and mid-caps fell about 1.8% each.
Top private lenders HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank dropped 3.7% and 3.1%, respectively, while oil-to-telecom conglomerate Reliance Industries lost 2.1%.
Other Asian stocks fell 4.7%, while Wall Street and European futures also slid, as the inflationary shock from surging crude prices threatened to harden or push up interest rates worldwide. Safe-haven demand kept the U.S. dollar firm. [MKTS/GLOB]
Iraq and Kuwait have begun cutting oil output, adding to earlier liquefied natural gas reductions from Qatar, as the war blocks shipments from the Middle East.
Brent crude jumped as much as 26.4% to $117.16 a barrel, and was up 23% at $114.08 by 9:15 a.m. IST. [O/R]
(Reporting by Bharath Rajeswaran, Vivek Kumar M in Mumbai and Kashish Tandon in Bengaluru; Editing by Eileen Soreng and Ronojoy Mazumdar)