Sensex, Nifty Decline As Private Banks Drag On Earnings Concerns

(RTTNews) - Indian shares fell notably on Friday, with uncertainty over U.S. tariffs and a muted start to the quarterly earnings season weighing on markets.

Potential disruption to cheap Russian oil supply due to threatened U.S. and NATO sanctions over the Ukraine conflict also kept investors on edge.

"I'm not worried at all. If something happens, we'll deal with it," Petroleum Minister Hardeep Singh Puri reportedly said on Thursday at an industry event in New Delhi.

Earlier today, EU countries approved a new package of sanctions against Russia over its war in Ukraine, including a lower oil price cap on Russia's global oil exports, a ban on transactions with Nord Stream gas pipelines, and the targeting of more shadow fleet ships.

The 18th round of sanctions since the 2022 invasion was signed off as Slovakia's Russia-friendly Prime Minister Robert Fico withdrew his objections after securing what he called "guarantees" from the EU on gas prices.

The EU will keep raising the pressure until Russia ends its war," EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said in a statement.

The benchmark S&P/BSE Sensex fell 501.51 points, or 0.61 percent, to 81,757.73 while the broader NSE Nifty index closed at 24,968.40, down 143.05 points, or 0.57 percent, from its previous close.

The BSE mid-cap and small-cap indexes ended down around 0.6 percent each.

The market breadth was weak on the BSE, with 2,384 shares declining while 1,666 shares advanced and 158 shares closed unchanged.

Among the prominent decliners, shares or private sector lender Axis Bank plunged 5.2 percent after asset quality issues and slower loan growth weighed on its Q1 earnings.

Eternal, Titan Company, Bharti Airtel, Kotak Mahindra Bank, HDFC Bank and BEL dropped 1-2 percent.

Defense stocks succumbed to profit taking after recent strong gains, with HAL, Bharat Dynamics and Data Patterns (India) tumbling 3-5 percent.

On the positive side, Tata Steel advanced 1.7 percent and Bajaj Finance surged 1.9 percent.