Indian Shares Extend Losses For Seventh Day

(RTTNews) - Indian shares ended lower on Wednesday to extend losses for a seventh straight session as elevated oil prices and rising global bond yields amid an apparent impasse in Middle East peace talks dented investors' appetite for riskier assets.

While global bond yields eased from recent highs, Brent crude prices remained elevated around $92 a barrel after U.S. President Donald Trump said there are currently no U.S.-Iran talks taking place or scheduled and that the U.S. naval blockade remains in force.

Trump also insisted the Strait of Hormuz was open and operating and that mines had been removed or detonated.

On the contrary, Iran maintained that the strategic waterway will not be opened until the United States meets its demands, highlighting the deep disconnect between the countries.

The benchmark 30-share BSE Sensex ended the session down 325.78 points, or 0.42 percent, at 76,909.68 while the NSE Nifty index dropped 76.60 points, or 0.32 percent, to 24,078.30.

The BSE mid-cap and small-cap indexes fell 0.4 percent and 0.7 percent, respectively.

The market breadth was weak on the BSE, with 2,479 shares falling while 1,814 shares rose and 228 shares closed unchanged.

Among the prominent decliners, Reliance Industries, Hindustan Unilever, ITC, Larsen & Toubro, Bajaj Finance and Power Grid Corp fell 1-2 percent.