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A man walks past the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) building in Mumbai, India October 4, 2018. REUTERS/Francis Mascarenhas
BENGALURU (Reuters) – Indian shares ended lower on Wednesday as calls for an impeachment of U.S. President Donald Trump rattled investors, with state-owned banks dropping the most.
The broader Nifty index ended down 1.28% at 11,440.20, while the benchmark BSE Sensex closed 1.29% lower at 38,593.52.
Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives on Tuesday launched a formal impeachment inquiry into Trump, accusing him of seeking foreign help to smear Democratic rival Joe Biden ahead of next year’s election.
Sentiment was also hurt after Trump delivered a stinging rebuke to China’s trade practices in a speech at the United Nations General Assembly, stoking fears of an escalation in the ongoing trade war.
In the domestic market, public-sector banks, whose index recorded their worst day since July this year, were the top drags on both indexes.
The country’s biggest lender by assets, State Bank of India (SBI), saw its biggest fall in over four years, as it dropped 7.39% at close after brokerage Morgan Stanley downgraded the stock to “equal weight,” citing uncertainty on asset quality and net interest margins.
Among gainers, Tata Consultancy Services ended up 2.14%.
Reporting by Derek Francis in Bengaluru; editing by Uttaresh.V
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