Indian shares fall

Indian shares fell on Monday, dragged by declines in energy stocks including index-heavyweight Reliance Industries Ltd, as investors fretted over global uncertainties and lacklustre quarterly earnings. While a Sino-US trade dispute continues to worry investors, a breakdown in talks on border security funding between Democratic and Republican lawmakers sparked fears of another government shutdown in the United States. The benchmark BSE index settled 0.41 percent lower at 36,395.03. The broader NSE index declined 0.50 percent to 10,888.8.
Reliance Industries was the top drag on the NSE index, closing 1.8 percent lower, while Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd slumped 5.07 percent after posting disappointing quarterly results on Friday.
While the US President Donald Trump declared he had no plans to meet his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping before the March 1 deadline to achieve a trade deal, sentiment was further dented by fears of another government shutdown after talks on border security funding collapsed between Democratic and Republican lawmakers.
Oil marketer Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd dropped as much as 2.8 percent after posting a 77 percent plunge in quarterly profit, pulled down by higher expenses.
Refiners Indian Oil Corp Ltd and Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd shed as much as 1.4 percent each.
Auto stocks were also trading in the red after Tata Motors Ltd and Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd extended declines to dive over 3 percent each after reporting disappointing quarterly results last week.
"The auto sector is creating serious problems for the markets, we have seen some dismal numbers and forecast and it could create a cascading effect," said Krish Subramanyam, co-head, equity advisory, at Altamount Capital.
"Even though the markets, in general, are rising, the advance decline ratio is pretty much in the negative so I see Nifty between 10,700-11,000 with a negative bias in the immediate short term."
Dr. Reddy's Laboratories Ltd was the biggest loser on the NSE index after falling as much as 5.6 percent. The generic drugmaker's Hyderabad-based plant was issued a Form 483 with 11 observations by the US Food And Drug Administration after market hours on Friday.
The FDA Form 483 notifies the company's management of objectionable conditions.
Bucking the trend, IT stocks were among the handful of gainers on the NSE index, with Infosys Ltd and Tata Consultancy Services Ltd gaining up to 0.8 percent each.