Markets fell and the rupee hit an all-time low Monday, weighed down by global economic growth worries due to tightening of lockdown in Shanghai and fears inflation could increase aggressive policy tightening from central banks.
The Indian rupee tumbled to a record low of 77.52 against the dollar earlier in the session. It settled at 77.465.
The Nifty was down 0.67% at 16,301.85 at close, while the Sensex fell 0.67% to 54,470.67.
Reliance Industries' shares closed lower (down 3.9%) in its sixth consecutive session of losses, amid a weak market. The conglomerate reported a 22.5% rise in fourth-quarter profit on a sequential basis "Hawkish stance by the US Fed (US Federal Reserve), rate hikes by the RBI (Reserve Bank of India) have created an atmosphere of risk-off for equities and we don't know how long this will last," said V K Vijayakumar, chief investment strategist at Geojit Financial Services.
India's benchmark indexes on Friday registered their worst week since November, dented by a surprise interest-rate hike by the RBI, foreign fund outflows and mixed corporate results.
"Even after Nifty's correction last week, it is trading at around 19 times FY23 earnings, which is higher than the long-term average and not a buyable valuation, particularly when global equity markets are facing headwinds like risk of slowdown in economic growth, Ukraine war and supply-chain disruptions caused by stringent lockdown in China," Vijayakumar added.
Shanghai authorities were tightening the city-wide COVID-19 lockdown they imposed over a month ago, prolonging into late-May.
Nifty's public-sector bank, metal, energy and fast-moving consumer goods sub-indices were among the top losers, declining between 1% and 2.7%.
Meanwhile, state-owned insurer Life Insurance Corporation's initial public offering, India's biggest, was subscribed 2.85 times on the last day of bidding.
