Indian shares fall for second straight session, metals and banks drag

By Tanvi Mehta

BENGALURU (Reuters) -India's Nifty 50 and BSE Sensex index fell over 1% for the second straight session on Monday, dragged lower by metals and banks with global market weakness further weighing on sentiment.

The NSE Nifty 50 index closed down 1.51% at 17,490.7, while the S&P BSE Sensex dropped 1.46% to 58,773.87.

Global shares slipped amid expectation of rate tightening by most central banks, while a modest easing by China served only to highlight troubles in its property market. [MKTS/GLOB]

Back home, analysts said investors booked profits following strong gains this month in the Nifty 50 index by 4.6% and 4.7% in the BSE Sensex until Aug. 18.

Earlier in the session, metal stocks plunged, with the Nifty Metal index down 3.2%, posting its biggest percentage loss since June 22. Tata Steel fell 4.5%.

The Nifty Bank index was down 1.8%, with Punjab National Bank and Kotak Mahindra Bank leading the decline with a 2.8% and 2.4% fall respectively.

The bank index had risen 5.8% this month until Aug. 18.

There was some relief in financial markets from overseas inflows.

Foreign institutional investors poured $5.6 billion into Indian equities until Aug. 19, compared with inflows of $618 million in July, data showed.

Meanwhile, shares of fintech firm Paytm's parent One97 Communications pared gains to end 0.5% higher after the company's shareholders voted to reappoint Vijay Shekhar Sharma as managing director and chief executive officer, despite calls for his ouster by an investor advisory firm.

Adani Power Ltd gained nearly 5% after the company said on Friday it will buy thermal power plant operator DB Power.

Only five stocks on the Nifty 50 index closed the session higher.

(Reporting by Tanvi Mehta in Bengaluru, additional reporting by Gaurav Dogra; Editing by Dhanya Ann Thoppil and Neha Arora)