India's Nifty slips below 9,800; Infosys extends fall

Indian shares fell on Monday, as index heavyweight Infosys extended slump following surprise departure of Chief Executive Officer Vishal Sikka.

sensex
A man looks at a screen across a road displaying the Sensex on the facade of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) building in Mumbai, India. REUTERS

Indian shares fell on Monday, as index heavyweight Infosys extended slump following surprise departure of Chief Executive Officer Vishal Sikka.

The S&P BSE Sensex lost 0.84 percent at 31,258 while the broader NSE Nifty dropped 0.84 percent at 9,754.

Infosys, the country's second-largest Indian IT services firm, fell as much as 6 percent, extending Friday's slump of about 13 percent.

In a surprise announcement, Sikka resigned as CEO citing a stream of distractions and disruptions in recent months.

Sikka has been appointed as executive vice chairman in a newly created position, Infosys said in a statement on Friday morning.

Among the other top index losers: Adani Ports declined 2.7 percent, Dr Reddy's fell 2.4 percent, Sun Pharma lost 2 percent while Lupin was down 2.1 percent.

S&P BSE Information Technology index dropped 2 percent, among the top sectoral losers.

Market breadth was in the favour of losers, with about 2 stocks declining to every 1 stock that advanced.

Most of the Asian markets were mixed, with MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan nudged down 0.01 percent.

U.S. stocks ended lower on Friday after the White House announced that Steve Bannon would be leaving his job as chief strategist.

Markets are focusing on any significant policy statements coming out of Jackson Hole, Wyoming.

Chair Janet Yellen and European Central Bank President Mario Draghi are among central bankers attending the annual gathering later this week.

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