Indian Shares Extend Losses As Iran War Talks Hit Impasse

(RTTNews) - Indian shares opened lower on Thursday, with key benchmark indexes extending losses for a third day running as attacks on ships in the Middle East continued and the U.S. and Iran remained deadlocked over efforts to permanently end their five-month-old war.

The benchmark BSE Sensex was down 178 points, or 0.2 percent, at 77,788 in early trade, while the NSE Nifty index dropped 104 points, or 0.4 percent, to 24,333.

Among the prominent decliners, ICICI Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Adani Ports, Reliance Industries, Infosys, Power Grid Corp, Titan Company and UltraTech Cement fell 1-2 percent.

On the flip side, Eternal, Bharti Airtel and Indigo all rose around 1 percent.

Jio Financial Services gained 1.5 percent on news that Bank of America will acquire up to 49.9 percent stake in its non-banking lending arm.

Lenskart Solutions rose 2.1 percent after its Q1 profit nearly tripled.

Tata Motors soared almost 5 percent on reporting an 83 percent surge in quarterly profit.

Astral jumped 8 percent on reporting a 41 percent rise in Q1 net profit.