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Shares fall 2 per cent; banks down, techs up

MUMBAI - Indian shares fell more than 2 per cent on Thursday, after oil prices rebounded to $117 a barrel, rekindling inflation concerns and further monetary tightening.

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Financial stocks such ICICI Bank and State Bank of India led the fall, while export-focused information technology companies bucked the trend and rose for a second day as the rupee weakened to a four-week low.

Foreign funds, which have sold shares worth about $6.5 billion this year, were edgy after the capital market regulator did not take a decision on norms for unwinding of derivative investment instruments used by them.

Traders had expected the Securities and Exchange Board of India to extend an 18-month deadline for unwinding the instruments called participatory notes, or P-notes, which were banned last October. “The much-hyped SEBI meet turned out to be a no-show as it decided not to change its policy on PNotes,” brokerage Indiainfoline said in a note. “In the medium to long term, the market may not be able to rise sharply as FIIs may continue their selling spree,” it said referring to foreign institutional investors.

By 11:28am (0558GMT), the 30-share BSE index was down 2.12 per cent, or 3 2 0 . 2 6 p o i n t s , a t 14,777.28, with 24 components falling. The benchmark has fallen 27 per cent so far this year.

No. 2 lender ICICI fell 4.5 per cent to 678.55 rupees and leader State Bank dropped 4.1 per cent to 1,491 rupees as investors unwound their positions ahead of a three-day weekend and expectation annual inflation would have hit 12.21 per cent. It would be the highest reading in more than 13 years.

The data for the week ended August 2 is d u e a t 6 . 0 0 p m (1230GMT). Indian markets are closed on Friday for Independence Day. Bellwether Infosys Technologies rose 2.2 per cent to 1,661 rupees and No. 4 outsourcer Satyam Computer Services climbed 1.2 per cent to 411 rupees as the rupee fell to its lowest in nearly four weeks against the dollar