Nifty 50 index heads for technical correction amid global turmoil

India’s benchmark NSE Nifty 50 Index headed for a technical correction amid the global selloff triggered by rising concerns about the health of Swiss lender Credit Suisse Group AG.
 

The gauge slipped as much as 0.5% Thursday, bringing losses from an all-time high in early December to over 10%. The S&P BSE Sensex Index fell as much as 0.4%. Rising interest rates, coupled with this year’s rout in the Adani conglomerate’s stocks, have also weighed on the local market.

Since hitting record peaks on Dec. 1, both the Nifty and Sensex gauges have been on a slide as a series of interest rate hikes by the central bank hurt the economic growth outlook for the South Asian nation. Shares of financial companies, shadow lenders and banks, which make up about 40% of the benchmark Sensex, have also come under pressure in recent sessions as turmoil in the financial sector in the US and Europe raised concerns of a global economic slowdown. 

Analysts are starting to project a slowdown in loan demand for India, which has been vital for the lenders’ outperformance in recent months.

Foreigners have also resumed selling in local shares, which was compounded by the massive declines in Adani Group after Hindenburg Research accused the ports-to-power conglomerate of accounting fraud and stock manipulation.

The rout in the Adani Group, which started late January, reached as much as $153 billion and erased nearly two-thirds of its combined stock value before clawing back some of the losses. The drawdown, however, cost India its spot among the world’s top five markets by value.