Rupee Rises 7 Paise Against US Dollar As SVB Acquisition Talks Bring Relief

Indian shares opened higher on Monday after reports of advanced talks for the acquisition of collapsed Silicon Valley Bank brought relief to markets, although fears of contagion in the global banking system lingered.

The Nifty 50 index was up 0.45% at 17,020.64 as of 9:53 a.m. IST. The S&P BSE Sensex rose 0.41% to 57,772.59. The broader Asian equity indexes were subdued.

Eight of the 13 major sectoral indexes advanced, with the heavyweight financials index adding 0.3%. Metals gained 0.8% to be the top sectoral gainer, having shed over 2% on Friday.

While reports of a potential acquisition of Silicon Valley Bank by First Citizens BancShares Inc calmed nerves, concerns over credit crunch persisted, putting authorities on high alert over the fallout from recent banking turmoil.

The U.S. Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank officials said they are keeping a close watch on the impact of banking stress on the credit crunch after Deutsche Bank’s shares tanked following a rise in credit default swaps to a four-year high.

Among individual Indian stocks, shares of Phoenix Mills jumped nearly 6% after global brokerage firm Morgan Stanley initiated coverage on the stock with an “overweight” recommendation.

Shares of Sun Pharma Advanced Research Company fell nearly 2% after the company said it might incur certain expenses in connection to an IT security incident that occurred earlier this month

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