Indian shares kick off week with 1% fall as oil prices climb

Indian shares ended nearly 1% lower on Monday after making sizeable gains the previous week, weighed down by losses in bank stocks, while a surge in oil prices stoked inflation fears.

The blue-chip NSE Nifty 50 index closed 0.98% lower at 17,117.60, while the benchmark S&P BSE Sensex lost 0.99% to end at 57,292.49. The market was closed on Friday for a holiday.

Both the indexes added about 4% last week, helped by a pullback in oil prices, further easing of COVID-19 curbs in the country and hopes for progress in Russia-Ukraine peace talks.

However, oil prices on Monday rose above $110 a barrel amid tight supplies and as European Union nations consider joining the United States in a Russian oil embargo.

A jump in oil prices is a setback for India, the world's third-biggest consumer and importer of oil. The government has not hiked domestic prices so far.

Investor sentiment was also soured after global markets slipped as the Russia-Ukraine conflict dragged on with little progress in peace talks.

In Mumbai trading, the Nifty Bank Index fell 1.13% after two consecutive sessions of gains, while the Nifty Auto Index lost 1.21%.

However, Maruti Suzuki rose as much as 3.2%, though it gave up most of the gains. The company's majority-owner Suzuki Motor unveiled plans to invest $1.37 billion in its India factory to make electric vehicles and batteries.

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida also announced plans to invest $42 billion in India over five years.

The Nifty Pharma Index gained as much as 1.50% earlier in the day after 19 Indian generic drugmakers, including Sun Pharma and Cipla, received a license to make cheap versions of Pfizer Inc's highly effective COVID-19 antiviral pill.